Doctor Who - A Most Important Man
by Hammurabi
Summary: Still on his "Stetsons are cool" kick, The Doctor suggests visiting Texas for a USA Fourth of July barbecue party in the 1960's. Naturally, things go wrong in a cold war sort of way…. Fits between Series 7 "A Town called Mercy" and "The Power of Three."
1. Barbecue!

Doctor Who – A Most Important Man

Author's Notes.

**Spoiler Alert** This story falls between the new Series Seven "A Town called Mercy" and "The Power of Three."

Doctor Who and all related characters are the copyright of the BBC.

Many thanks to my Beta reader, LittleMissLiz, for help sanding down the rough spots.

As an American writing for mostly British characters, I appreciate any feedback on getting the grammar right.

1 June 2013 Note: For any new readers, I'd like to state for the record this story was conceived, written and published months before the Doctor Who episode "Cold War", which also has events happening on a Russian submarine. My story was first! :)

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Chapter 1: Barbecue!

It was a quiet moment in the lives of Amy and Rory. Rory was in the upstairs bathroom, the toilet tank open, staring into the inner workings. Near at hand was a "universal flapper kit" purchased from the DIY shop.

"You know," Rory called out. "I don't think this 'universal flapper' is really universal. I think we need a different kind of flapper thingy to replace the old flapper thingy."

Amy stuck her head in the bathroom. "Why not pull out the old one and take it to the shop with you so you have something to compare?"

"It's rather messy," Rory replied. "Look what happened when I touched it." He held up is hand, showing off black marks on his fingers from touching the semi-dissolved rubber coating the old flapper.

"Ew!" said Amy, wrinkling her nose at the sight. "I'll get a plastic bag for you to put that old thing in."

As Amy turned to go downstairs, there was a loud knock at the front door, followed by the doorbell ringing over and over again. Her temper flared. Amy grabbed a water pistol she kept handy for such occasions, planning to douse the miscreant who was being so rude. She snatched open the TARDIS-blue door, water pistol at the ready, with a loud "OY!"

It was the Doctor. He was wearing his usual brown tweed jacket with white shirt and bowtie. In addition, he had on a large Stetson hat, which looked quite out of place for a London neighborhood. "Howdy, Ma'am!" he said, using his best imitation of a western US accent. The Doctor tipped his hat with a big smile, and rocked slightly from side to side. "Do you mind if I come in?" Without waiting for an answer, he pushed his way in past a startled Amy.

"Why no, Doctor. Do come in, Doctor," Amy said sarcastically to the empty stoop outside. She slammed the door shut, turned around and shot a squirt or two at the Doctor's receding back.

"Is it raining in here?" called the Doctor. "No, of course not," he muttered. The Doctor took off his Stetson, carelessly tossed it onto the coffee table and turned on his heel to face Amy. "Why is it, Amelia Pond, that humans of this era are so adverse to the idea of it raining inside their homes? The Romans used to have an atrium in their houses that was open to the sky. And speaking of Romans…." The Doctor paused for a breath and shouted, "Rory! Are you about?"

"Upstairs," came the muffled response. The Doctor bounded up the stairs two at a time.

Amy looked up the staircase, still peeved with the Doctor. "This isn't Italy!" she shouted. "People generally don't want snow and cold wind blowing inside their homes!" Sighing, Amy trudged up the stairs after the Doctor, and sure enough, there he was, standing in the bathroom next to Rory, practically cooing over the toilet.

The Doctor turned beaming to Amy. "I love a bit of Victorian engineering! Here you both are, living in the early 21st century, surrounded by all kinds of electronic gadgets with microchips. And that's a trend that will continue, you know. And in the middle of all that, you have this!" The Doctor waved his hand at the toilet tank. "A dead simple mechanical design still in common use, practically unchanged over the last one hundred twenty years – no electronics, no electricity required! Isn't it marvelous?"

Amy and Rory both stared at the Doctor as if he had sprouted a second head. "Actually, Doctor," said Rory, "I was attempting a repair." He held up the universal flapper still sealed in its packaging.

The Doctor was disappointed the Ponds didn't share his delight, but he didn't let it show. "Well then," he enthused, "let's get started." And with that, the Doctor snatched the universal flapper kit out of Rory's hand.

"Wait!" cried Rory, just as the Doctor tore open the packaging and pulled out the flapper.

There was another knock at the front door, followed by a single ring of the doorbell. "I'll get it!" said Amy as she turned to head downstairs, glad to be out of the bathroom.

"Rory!" said the Doctor in an accusing tone. "This isn't the right kind of flapper!"

Rory threw up his hands. "Yes, I was getting to that Doctor," he said, exasperated. "Which is why I hadn't removed it from the packaging." Rory could hear Amy talking to someone, followed by the sound of two people coming up the stairs.

"Hey! Look who's here!" said Amy with a big smile. Behind her was a man who resembled an older, heavier version of Rory.

Rory was suspicious. It seemed a bit convenient for his father to show just now. "Hi Dad," he said unenthusiastically. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here because my lovely daughter-in-law called," Brian Williams replied. As Amy shifted position, Brian spotted the Doctor standing in the bathroom. "Oh, it's you!" Brian said. "Played fetch with any dinosaurs recently?"

"No, but I like the way you think!" replied the Doctor, waving his finger. "Perhaps we could do that some time."

Brian looked at the scene in the bathroom with a slight smile on his face. "May I ask what two grown men are doing in the bathroom together?" Rory's jaw dropped. He had no response to that.

"Why repairs of course!" exclaimed the Doctor, completely unfazed. He held up the universal flapper. "Except this is the wrong kind of flapper."

Brian nodded his understanding. "Too bad you opened it, Rory. Now it can't be returned. Waste of money, that is."

Rory sighed in frustration. "Yes Dad, I know all about it. I daresay we will survive the expense." The Doctor, meanwhile, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began poking around the tank, the buzz loud in the small space. "What are you doing?" Rory asked warily.

"This isn't just good for screws you know. I can loosen nuts with it too. See?" the Doctor said.

"Just a minute! I haven't turned off the water yet!" exclaimed Rory. With a pop, a small stream of water began shooting out of the toilet tank, arching over and, fortunately for Amy and Rory, mostly landing in the bathtub.

"Oh dear," said the Doctor, watching the stream.

"All right you two," said Brian. "Out of the bathroom. Let me get in there. Oh, and I'll need some extra towels." The Doctor and Rory obediently exited the bathroom. Brian calmly walked in, reached down, and shut off the water supply to the toilet. "That's better," he declared. He looked up and saw both the Doctor and his son watching. "Go on," Brian said with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure you two have better things to do than to watch me."

The Doctor was still fascinated by the mechanical simplicity of the toilet. "Not really," he said.

Amy pushed past the Doctor and Rory, old towels in her hands. "Here you go Brian," Amy said as she handed off the towels. She turned back to face the Doctor and Rory. "Go on! Shoo!" she said, waving her hands. "Downstairs with the lot of you!"

"Yes mother," the Doctor replied facetiously. He reluctantly turned and walked down the stairs, followed closely by Rory.

Brian looked at Amy, relieved. "Thank you," he said. Amy flashed him a smile, and went down the stairs herself.

"Well Doctor," Amy said as she entered the living room. "I assume there is reason for this visit?" She sat down next to Rory on the sofa.

The Doctor began pacing around. "First off, how long has it been? A couple of days?"

"Closer to a month," Amy grumbled, arms crossed.

"Okay, not too bad," the Doctor mused, looking at his Stetson sitting on the coffee table. "Listen, I had an idea for something fun – not a big adventure. How would you like to go to an old-fashioned Western USA Fourth of July barbecue party?" The Doctor smiled at Amy and Rory.

Amy reached forward, picked up the Stetson and eyed it critically, noting the clean hole burned through. She wiggled a finger in the hole. "This is the hat you picked up in Mercy, isn't it?"

"Yes it is," replied the Doctor. He put on a smug expression. "Stetsons are cool. I suppose that's what put me in a barbecue mood."

"And how 'old-fashioned' are we talking about?" asked Rory. "We're not talking gun-slinging old west are we?"

"Oh no," said the Doctor. "Much more civilized than that. What I specifically have in mind is the Fourth of July 1961 barbecue bash thrown by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson at the LBJ Ranch outside Johnson City, Texas."

"The 1960's?" said Rory. "That could be fun." He gave Amy a big grin. "Does that mean Amy should go braless?"

Amy hit Rory on the shoulder. "Any excuse, eh?" she said with a smile.

The Doctor gave Rory a critical look. "No, I'm talking 1961, not the late 1960's. No Beatles, no Rolling Stones, no Vietnam War protests, no VW buses painted in paisley colors, and no Hippies." He paused in thought. "There were Beatniks though. In many ways, 4th July 1961 will seem more like the late 1950's in terms of dress and attitudes."

He began to pace again, eyes bright. "No Apollo space suits yet; the space program was just getting started. By July of 1961, only two people had been in space – Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard, and Shepard's flight was just sub-orbital. In those early days, the Russians were ahead of the Americans."

The Doctor clapped his hands together. "So what do you think? There are plenty of period-appropriate clothes in the TARDIS to choose from, no worries there."

"Well," said Rory, glancing at Amy. "I am a bit peckish. I could do with a bite to eat."

Amy looked at Rory, amused. She gave him a nudge with her shoulder. "Is food all you ever think about Rory?"

"No," he replied. "I can think of other things…." Rory gave Amy a significant look and flicked his eyebrows up and down a couple of times.

Amy's eyes widened as she realized his meaning. "Rory!" she said quietly, slightly embarrassed, but with a smile.

Amy cleared her throat. "So Doctor," she said conversationally. "You know we're concerned about appearing to age faster than our friends. This party is just one day, right? Today is Saturday. Can you return us back here tomorrow, and have only one day go by for us in the TARDIS?"

"Oh absolutely!" the Doctor enthused, beaming.

Amy and Rory looked at each other. They both knew how unlikely it was the Doctor would be able to keep that promise. But still…. The Doctor had been gone just long enough for both of them to want to take a chance. Travel by TARDIS was in their blood now. An unspoken agreement passed between them.

Rory stood up and walked over to the staircase. "Dad?" he shouted up. "We've been invited to a party. Will you be all right?"

"Don't worry about me," came the reply. "I'll just see myself out when I've got this fixed."

"Thanks Dad! Love you!" A moment later, the sound of the front door could be heard closing.

It took Brian about a minute for his son's last words to sink in. "Love you?" he said to himself. He slowly straightened from his hunched over position and went downstairs. The house was quiet. "Oh Doctor," he said to himself. "Those had better not be the last words I ever hear from my son!"


	2. Traveling in Style

Chapter 2 – Traveling in Style

"So, Ponds, the first order of business is clothes," declared the Doctor as they entered the TARDIS. He walked up to the console, turned and posed. "I've got my Stetson, so I'm ready!"

"No you're not," replied Rory as he looked the Doctor over. "Not if you're going to be wearing that hat."

The Doctor was taken aback. "Whatever do you mean?" he asked.

"For a cowboy, the two most important clothing items are his hat and his boots," Rory said confidently. "Those shoes simply won't do."

Amy was just as surprised as the Doctor. "And when did you become an expert on American cowboy attire?" she asked.

"When you spend two thousand years guarding the Pandorica, you learn a few things," Rory said to them both. "If you really want to go with the Western look, loose the bowtie and wear a bolo tie instead."

The Doctor defensively fiddled with his bowtie. "But bowties are cool," he objected.

"Not in Texas," said Rory. "But still, a bolo is optional. The boots are a must. Do you have cowboy boots? The more expensive or exotic looking, the better."

"Let's find out, shall we?" exclaimed the Doctor, and turned to lead the way down the hall towards the dressing rooms.

"What's a bolo tie?" Amy quietly asked Rory as they walked along behind the Doctor.

"A stringy looking thing with a flashy clasp where the knot of a proper tie should be," replied Rory, equally quiet. "I'm sorry I mentioned it now. If you thought a bowtie is a cry for help, I expect you'll think a bolo tie is a cult suicide pact."

"Oh Lord…" Amy murmured.

"Right! Here we are," said the Doctor as he suddenly turned left into a room, Amy and Rory following behind.

The room appeared to be filled with nothing but shoes – all kinds and styles of shoes. Simple looking sandals that would not have been out of place thousands of years ago, sneakers, moccasins, ballet shoes, tap dance shoes, oxfords, derbies, high heels, pumps, wingtips, boots of all kinds, and even some high-tech looking attire covered in vibrantly colored sponsorship advertising that was constantly in motion.

The Doctor noticed Amy and Rory staring at the bright high-tech shoes. "From your future," he commented. "Though perhaps not as far in the future as you might think. And in the time period when I picked those up, that was considered to be the conservative stuff only a grandmother would wear."

The Doctor moved farther into the room, searching. "Ah ha! Is this the sort of thing you mean, Rory?"

Rory moved to see where the Doctor was pointing. There were two rows of western looking boots, ranging from no nonsense work boots to fancy dress boots that would never have a speck of mud on them. "Yes, these dress boots are good. Just the sort of thing you need." Rory reached out and picked up a pair. "Look at this! I think these are rattlesnake skin boots. Now we're talking!"

"Thank you, Rory," said the Doctor, taking the boots. "Now let's get you two sorted." The Doctor lead the way to another room, this one filled with both men's and women's clothing. "Are you being served?" the Doctor asked in a haughty voice. "Menswear this way, and ladies that way."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh please, that was old before I was born!"

"And who do you think suggested the phrase 'are you being served' to Mr. Harrod, of Harrod's department store?" the Doctor said with an amused expression.

"Uh, getting back to the clothes, I already have something in mind," said Rory. "Basically, all I need to do is dress the same way I did when we were in 1969, when I had the horn-rimmed glasses, slicked back hair, and all that. What was rocket scientist nerdy by 1969 was routine in 1961. Amy will be a bit more of a challenge, I think. Women's style changes faster."

"Not that hard," said the Doctor, looking over Amy. "All we have to do is dress her like Jacqueline Kennedy."

"Hello? I'm standing right here!" said Amy, miffed at Rory and the Doctor.

"Come on," Rory said gently. "I think I have a good idea what's needed. A bit of privacy please, Doctor?"

"That's all right, I'm good," replied the Doctor. Amy and Rory looked at the Doctor expectantly. "Oh! You want me to leave?" said the Doctor, comprehension dawning on his face.

"Yes please," Amy and Rory said simultaneously. The Doctor quietly slipped out of the room.

A few minutes later, Rory stepped out. "You can come in now, Doctor," he called. As the Doctor re-entered the room, Rory asked with a big grin on his face, "What do you think?"

Amy was wearing a deceptively simple sleeveless white and emerald green floral dress offsetting her red hair. The dress came down to just below her knees with nylon stockings underneath. A wide, matching green belt was around her waist. Accompanying this was a matching green pillbox hat perched on her head, thin white gloves covered her hands, a slim white purse, and white open-toe shoes with one inch heels.

"Are you sure this is right?" Amy asked as she looked at her gloves and purse, and down at her shoes.

"In 1961? Absolutely! And I must say, you look smashing!" said the Doctor, pleased with the transformation.

Amy took in the snakeskin boots the Doctor was now wearing, and then glanced up. "What in God's name is that thing around your neck?" she asked.

"Oh this?" the Doctor asked innocently. "This is a bolo tie. What do you think?"

"How can that be called a tie? It's a piece of costume jewelry with two long rat tails hanging down. And I thought bowties were bad…."

"Different people, different customs," the Doctor admonished. "I won't be the only man wearing a bolo tie you know."

"Not Rory!" said Amy, looking at Rory with alarm.

"No, not Rory," said Rory. "I'm not trying to be a cowboy. We'll just be a British couple invited to the party." Rory smiled at Amy. "It will be fun."

Amy smiled back, relieved. "Well, let's get this party rocking!"

"Rock and Roll," corrected the Doctor. "Rock isn't quite there yet."

"Whatever," Amy said as they began to walk back to the console room. "Say, if we're going to a party hosted by none other than the Vice President of the United States, why not go all the way? Why aren't we going to President Kennedy's party?"

"Two reasons really," replied the Doctor. "One: the President's party is a relatively low-key affair in Massachusetts, not a barbecue, and it would be harder to blend in. Two: Marilyn Monroe will be at the President's party, and I'd just as soon not run into her at the moment."

Amy and Rory gave each other a knowing look. As they walked, Amy began to hum the "wedding march," quietly at first, then with increasing volume. Rory soon joined in, and it quickly went from humming to an out loud "La, da da da – la, da da da – la da da daaa da da da da da da…" as they marched along in time.

"All right! All right! That's not funny!" said the Doctor. "I can't help it if Marilyn Monroe thought I was going to marry her!" Both Amy and Rory burst out laughing as they entered the control room.

The Doctor began working his way around the console, setting dials, typing briefly on the keyboard, flipping switches, and checking the monitor. "Right then!" he said. "Relatively short trip. July fourth, 1961, here we come!" With that, he pulled a lever and the TARDIS took off with a lurch that sent Rory and Amy scrambling to hang on. Amy let out a whoop and grinned at Rory.

After a minute, the TARDIS landed with its familiar scraping, moaning sound. The Doctor checked his monitor, and frowned. "We are definitely in 4 July 1961, but we're a bit early – perhaps 2:00 AM local time. And that's not right…." He trailed off.

"Uh, Doctor," said Rory. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Is what supposed to do what?" asked the Doctor, still looking at the monitor.

"The doors to the TARDIS. Are they supposed to do that?" Rory asked again, pointing.

Instead of the normal police box blue double doors, there was now a somewhat shorter, single narrow door seemingly made of wood with perhaps an oak finish.

"What?" said the Doctor. He stepped away from the console and walked up to the door. "What!" He opened the door, peeked out, then stepped out for a quick look around. He quickly came back in, shutting the door behind him.

"Oh you sexy thing!" the Doctor said as he walked up to the console while shaking his finger. "You've been holding out on me!"

"Doctor? What's going on?" asked Amy.

"It's the chameleon circuit! Ordinarily, a TARDIS is supposed to always blend in with its environment so that it's not noticed – and that's in addition to the perception filter. But a long time ago, this TARDIS got stuck looking like a police call box, and it's been that way ever since. I did try to repair it once, but it didn't last."

The Doctor shook his head while smiling, talking to the TARDIS, a distinct tone of affection in his voice. "All this time! All this time, you could have changed anytime you wanted! But _you_ wanted to be a police call box, didn't you? You naughty, naughty girl!"

"But we're somewhere in Texas, yeah?" asked Amy.

"Didn't I say? No, we're not in Texas. We're on board a smallish ship by the look of things. Too small a space for the TARDIS to appear as a police call box, so the old girl simply blended in as she's meant to do. From the outside, the TARDIS looks like just another cabin door along a ship's corridor."

"And it is 1961, right?" asked Rory.

"Oh yes! It's definitely 4th July 1961, so our clothes shouldn't be out of character. Shall we have a look around?"

"Yes, let's," responded Amy. As a group, they all headed for the door, and stepped out one at a time.

An alarm klaxon was sounding. "That's odd," said the Doctor. "It was quiet when I stepped out the first time."

"Doctor," said Rory warningly. "This doesn't look like a cruise ship. Look at all the exposed pipes and whatnot. This has the look of a military ship."

"I agree," said the Doctor with a smile. "What else do you observe?"

From down the corridor they could hear voices calling out. "Compartment Five – manned and ready! Compartment Six – manned and ready!"

Rory looked around. "This hallway… I mean, corridor really. It's hardly wider than my shoulders, and at that end of the corridor is a hatch. I think this is a submarine!"

"Exactly! A submarine!" said the Doctor excitedly. He bounced on the balls of his feet and smiled. "This is new!"

The voices down the corridor continued. "All compartments report manned and ready for live missile firing, Comrade Captain!"

"Maintain course, speed and depth."

"Course two-nine-zero! Speed six knots! Depth one hundred meters! Bow planes at zero degrees!"

"Comrade Captain! We have received confirmation from Moscow authorizing release of nuclear missiles!"

Amy and Rory looked at each other in horror. "That can't be right!" Rory exclaimed. "There were never any missile attacks in 1961, or at any time by anyone!"

"That we know of, you mean," replied Amy, fighting down a panic attack.

"If there had been a nuclear missile strike in the 1960's, I'm pretty sure we'd know!" Rory said heatedly. "If anyone was left alive to know, that is!"

"Hydraulics to number one missile tube open."

"Number one hatch open."

"Set firing control to primary."

"Number one missile fueling in progress."

"Doctor! What are we going to do!" cried Amy. "We can't allow this ship to launch a nuclear missile!"

The Doctor seemed rooted on the spot, listening intently to the activity down the hallway. "This can't be right. Something is wrong – I'm sure of it!"

"Proceed with activation of the warhead on number one missile."

"Prepare for emergency dive after launch."

"Number one missile fueled and table elevated."

"Ready for firing sequence."

"Launch number one missile!"

"Time to launch: fifteen seconds… fourteen… thirteen… twelve…"

"Doctor!"


	3. K-19

Chapter 3 – K-19

Amy couldn't believe the Doctor was standing there with his eyes closed, just listening.

"Eleven… Ten… Nine…"

"Well if you won't do anything, I will!" exclaimed Amy. She turned and began to run down the corridor towards the voices.

"I've got it!" declared the Doctor as he snapped open his eyes. "We're too deep! Where's Amy?"

"About to get us in trouble!" said Rory. "She ran that way." He pointed down the corridor past the Doctor.

"Come on!" said the Doctor. He took off after Amy, with Rory close behind. "Early Soviet missile subs couldn't fire from underwater!" the Doctor explained as they ran. "They could only launch missiles from the surface, and we're at one hundred meters – over three hundred twenty feet down."

The alarm klaxon abruptly stopped and a voice announced over loudspeaker, "Attention all compartments. The remainder of this drill is canceled. Repeat. The remainder of this drill is canceled."

"I want names!' an angry voice said up ahead. "I want to know who is responsible for this American – a woman at that – getting on board this boat!"

"American!" Amy could be heard saying. "Who are you calling American!"

There was a crowd at the end of the corridor, or at least it seemed that way. "Sorry!" said the Doctor as he began pushing his way past startled crewmembers. "Pardon me! Coming through! Sorry!" Suddenly the Doctor and Rory were face to face with three unsmiling officers. One of the officers was holding Amy's arm above the elbow. It was suddenly very, very quiet on the bridge of the submarine.

"Ah, I see you've met," said the Doctor with the beginning of a smile on his face that quickly died away.

"Two more Americans, Captain?" said one of the officers with thick black hair. He had the air of authority about him.

"So it would seem, Comrade Captain," replied the officer holding Amy.

"Americans?" said the Doctor, puzzled. He turned to Rory. "Why does everyone think we are Americans?"

"Perhaps because we are dressed as Americans, Doctor?" Rory replied, eyebrow raised.

"Oh the clothes! Yes, I had quite forgotten," replied the Doctor. He removed the Stetson from his head. "Is that better?"

"Comrade Captain!" spoke the third officer. "As political officer, I strongly recommend these American spies be locked up immediately!"

"And where do you propose to lock them up?" asked the captain with a slight smile on his face. "In your own cabin? This boat doesn't have the luxury of a brig."

"Pardon me, I didn't catch your name?" the Doctor said to the political officer. He pulled out his psychic paper and flashed it at him. "I believe you'll find I out-rank you."

The political officer looked at the psychic paper, paled, and stiffened to attention. "My apologies, Comrade. I am Igor Sergiyovich Boyakov." He turned to the captain. "This man is a Colonel in the KGB, Comrade Captain."

Now that the political officer had set expectations, the Doctor flashed the psychic paper at the Captain as well, who simply nodded at what he saw.

"Captain, I believe I heard you asking for names," the Doctor said smoothly. "This man with me is… Roryski Pondkin, and the woman is Amelia Pondkina, his wife. I'm the Doctor. Now as for being spies, Igor… you don't mind if I call you Igor do you? Igor was half right – but we are KGB field operatives."

"As far as I'm concerned, your rank is only good on land," the captain said. "We are navy, we are at sea, and this is my boat! I want your name, Doctor!"

"I'm sorry Captain, it's just the Doctor."

"His name is a state secret!" Rory piped up. "Comrade Captain, my wife and I have been working with this man for over two years now, and even we do not know his name."

"Yes, it's true," added Amy. "After all this time, we still do not know his true identity, and I expect we never will." She glared at the Doctor.

The captain was silent for a moment. "I will contact Moscow to confirm your story."

"Captain," replied the Doctor. "I can assure you Moscow will disavow any knowledge of our existence. You would have to go above the Admiral of the Fleet, into the very heart of the Kremlin to get any real answers."

The captain and his executive glanced at each other. They both knew pushing things too far could spell the end of one's career, or worse. "I will let that ride for the moment," the captain replied. "But I still want to know on whose authority you are here!"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that either, Captain. It was all rather hush-hush and rush-rush to finish training for these two." The Doctor indicated Amy and Rory. "Much too soon, if you ask me, and we were told we would be put on a ship scheduled to go near the American coastline for a drop-off. I'm afraid I don't even know the name of this ship."

The captain simply grunted. "That is typical of the Politburo," he said. "Always rushing things before they are ready." The captain's attitude seemed to change. "I am Captain Second Rank Nikolai Zateyev, commander of this boat. And this…" He pointed to the man holding Amy, who now let go of her arm. "…is Captain Third Rank Vasili Arkhipov, my executive officer."

Captain Zateyev pointed to yet another man. "That is Captain Third Rank Viktor Sitnikov, Torpedo Officer." The chief nodded in acknowledgement.

The captain pointed to a man in his early twenties with striking blue eyes. "And over there is Lieutenant Boris Korchilov, Reactor Officer." The captain eyed the Doctor. "Comrade Colonel Doctor, this is a boat, not a ship. Boats do not have names. A belated welcome aboard _K-19_."

"Just 'Doctor' will do, Captain." The Doctor smiled. "Except when I need to pull rank of course."

"Doctor then," replied Captain Zateyev. "Sitnikov, you have the con. We will continue this conversation with the Doctor in private. Arkhipov, Doctor, you're with me."

Captain Zateyev headed for the corridor followed by the Doctor and the executive officer. They entered the first door into a small room with a table that served as both officer's mess and conference room. The door closed.

Amy noticed the lieutenant looking her way. She blushed slightly and looked around. "So, nice boat," she said, and looked back at the lieutenant, giving him a hesitant smile.

That was all the encouragement the lieutenant needed to come over to where Amy was standing. "Yes, she's a beauty, isn't she?" he said while standing close, looking Amy directly in the eyes.

"I assume you mean the boat," Rory said in a lower than normal tone, arms crossed.

"But of course!" the lieutenant said, looking over his shoulder at Rory. He turned back to Amy. "If you like, I could show you around. You will need to be careful though – quarters are rather tight around here."

"Yes," said Amy. "I'll like that, but a moment please." She stepped around the lieutenant and went over to Rory, who was glaring daggers at the lieutenant.

"Calm down, Rory!" Amy said in a low voice. "I'll be fine. And doesn't the name _K-19_ sound familiar to you? Maybe I can learn something."

Rory's eyes widened. "Oh my God!" he said in an equally low voice. "That movie, the one about a nuclear accident on a submarine! But how much of it was real, and how much was just Hollywood?"

"Yes! And when did the accident happen?" Amy murmured back.

"I don't remember the movie giving a date. It just happens about midway through, that's all." Rory glanced over at the lieutenant. "Just be careful, okay? That guy seems to be the groping type."

"I'll be fine, and sorry about the slap."

"What slap?"

Amy stepped back from Rory and put on a shocked expression. "Oh!" she squeaked, and gave Rory a loud slap on the cheek. She turned and walked over to Lieutenant Korchilov. "Shall we go, Lieutenant?"

The lieutenant gave Amy a broad smile. As they walked off, he said, "Please, call me Boris."

As Rory stood there holding his reddening cheek, he could hear some quiet laughter among the crew. "Well Comrade Roryski," said Viktor Sitnikov sympathetically. "You certainly have a hot potato on your hands. I'm afraid our Lieutenant has something of a reputation as a lady's man, but I do believe he's met his match." A few of the men nodded their agreement.

"Could we perhaps talk about something else?" Rory said suddenly. This brought an awkward silence for a moment.

"Here's what I want to know," piped up one of the crew. "We have been at sea for eighteen days. How could you possibly have been here all this time and us not know about it?"

Rory hesitated, trying to decide how to answer that one when the cabin door opened and the Doctor stuck his head out. "Rory, could you come here please? Amy too…" the Doctor looked around. "Where's Amy?"

Rory quickly headed for the Doctor. "She's being given the grand tour by that Lieutenant, Boris something-or-other," he replied as he stepped through the door.

Captain Zateyev frowned as he closed the door and motioned Rory to take a seat. "I will speak to Lieutenant Korchilov later – he should know better. Now then," he said. "Perhaps you can explain how you three have managed to stay hidden on my boat all this time?"

Rory gulped….

* * *

Amy was amazed at the conditions in the submarine. Unlike a civilian ship, everything here was utilitarian and out in the open. Supplies were squirreled away in every possible nook and cranny, and in some areas bunks were slung between pipes and machinery, which, in spite of its utilitarian nature, at least gave the submarine a lived-in feel. All that seemed to change when they reached compartment six. Here, it was strictly business.

"This is the starboard reactor," Boris Korchilov said proudly. "Behind that sealed hatch. Go ahead and take a peek through the port – it's leaded glass so it's perfectly safe." He paused until Amy was looking through the port in the hatch. "Welcome to the future, Amelia. Imagine cars that never need refueling. Power so cheap it doesn't need to be metered. Chemical rockets will take us to the moon – ahead of the Americans I hope – but nuclear power will someday take us to the planets. Who knows what can be achieved in our lifetimes! This is just the beginning."

Amy straightened up and looked at Korchilov. "You're quite the forward thinker," she said with a smile.

"Yes, well, everything always starts as a dream, does it not? This is my dream." Korchilov stepped over to a control panel to review conditions before continuing the tour. As he did so, a flash of blue light seemed to fill the whole room for a fraction of a second.

"Lieutenant? Lieutenant?"

"Yes? What is it?" Korchilov said, turning away from the panel. The Chief Starshina was looking at him with an odd expression.

"Have you located the problem?" the Chief Starshina asked.

Lieutenant Korchilov looked back at the panel. "Everything is normal. Why?"

"One of the crew reported a flash of light coming from the reactor compartment. Word got passed along, and I came to see if you were all right. There aren't any leaks are there?"

Korchilov checked the panel once more. "No, everything really is fine. No problem, no leaks."

"Well you've been staring at the panel for a good ten minutes, I'd say," said the Chief Starshina. "I thought perhaps you were hoping to catch the problem if it happened again."

Korchilov walked over to the reactor chamber hatch and looked through the port. "No really, everything is fine. See for yourself if you don't believe me."

The Chief Starshina simply shrugged. "You're the expert, not me."

Korchilov looked around. "Where's Amelia?"

"That exotic redhead? I think she got bored with you and went forward towards the bridge."

Korchilov cursed under his breath. He had been hoping to lure her away from her husband, but now he knew his chance of doing so was blown. He sighed and returned to his duty station.

As Amy returned to the officer compartment with the wood paneled cabins, she saw one of the doors open, and out stepped the Doctor and Rory.

"Amy! There you are," said the Doctor. "Come along Ponds!" He pushed past Amy and opened the last cabin door. "In you go."

Amy and Rory stepped through the door with the Doctor following close behind. They were back inside the TARDIS.

"Do you know what ship… boat this is?" Amy asked the Doctor excitedly. "A movie was made about it: _K-19_!"

"Yes, the 'widow maker,' which, by the way, is a bit of Hollywood rubbish. That was never the nickname for this boat," replied the Doctor as he began to work his way around the TARDIS console. "And before you ask, no, there isn't anything we can do. In a couple of hours, this boat will have a reactor accident, and that's all there is to it."

"Why not?" replied Amy. "I think I saw the actual reactor that goes pear-shaped. It looked fine to me, not that I'm an expert on nuclear reactors." She frowned. "There was an odd flash of light though…."

"Because Amy, like other well-documented events, this is a fixed point in time. Interacting with fixed points in time can have disastrous consequences. Best to leave things alone." The Doctor pulled a lever and the TARDIS started off.

In the officer's mess, Vasili Arkhipov was sipping a glass of hot tea when he heard a very odd sound – a sort of scraping or moaning. He jumped up, stepped out into the hall, and walked aft looking for the source of the sound. He stopped at the end of the paneled officer's area and stared at the exposed pipes. _I could have sworn there was another cabin here_, he thought to himself. Meanwhile, the sound had stopped. He walked to the nearest comm panel and pressed the button. "This is the Executive. I want a team to inspect compartment three." He returned to the mess to finish his tea.

"Amy?" said Rory. "What happened to your gloves?"

Amy held up her hands. Her palms of her gloves were obviously dirty and there were streaks on the back. The right glove was torn and had a piece missing. "Oh dear," she said. "I guess white gloves and submarines don't mix. You have to hang on to something when stepping through hatches and there is exposed machinery everywhere. Is my dress alright?"

Both the Doctor and Rory gave her a quick inspection. "Hang on," the Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He held it up, changed the setting, and aimed it at the dress.

After circling Amy a couple of times, he was finally satisfied. "There we go, vibrated the dirt right off, but those gloves are a loss I'm afraid. But not to worry!" the Doctor said with a hop in his step. "There's plenty more where they came from. Go get a new set."

Amy flashed a smile at the Doctor. "Thanks!" she said, and ran off.

Rory turned to the Doctor. "So do we finally get to eat?"

The Doctor smiled, straightened his Stetson and fiddled with his bolo tie. "Next stop: the LBJ Ranch in Texas!"


	4. Let's Party Like it's 1961

Chapter 4 – Let's Party Like it's 1961

In a grassy field next to a barn, a mechanical thrumming sound started off quietly, and gradually became louder as a British police call box materialized beside the barn. A few steers inside the barn heard the sound and began to moo and shift around in their pens.

The doors opened up, and three people stepped out of the call box. The one wearing a Stetson walked a few feet away, and turned back.

The Doctor smiled as he admired the TARDIS. "Ah, I see the old girl is back to her usual tricks."

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Amy asked as she looked around. "That looks like a barn to me, not a house."

"A bit whiffy around here too," Rory commented as the wind changed direction.

"Sometimes parties are held in barns," said the Doctor as he walked up to a set of double sliding doors, each wide enough for the three of them to easily walk through side by side. "Shall we take a look inside?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Doctor slid the right-hand door open and walked in. Just as Amy and Rory approached the opening, a steer chose that moment to let out a loud bellowing "MOOOO!"

Amy jumped back from the door. "There are cows in there!" she said, taken aback.

The Doctor turned around, an amused expression on his face. "Oh Amelia Pond! You can face down pirates, Daleks, and save a space whale, but a few boisterous bovines bother you?"

"I just wasn't expecting it, okay?" Amy said, slightly embarrassed. "Come along Rory!" Amy pushed ahead into the barn.

"Yes Mum," said Rory as he followed her in.

The barn was open in the middle, an area as wide as the double doors leading to a matching set of doors at the far end of the barn. Fresh hay covered the entire floor. On either side of the central area, there were a series of pens dividing up the space, with two or three animals in each pen. One of the pens held a cow with two young calves.

"Oh look! Baby cows!" said Amy as she walked over for a closer look. "Aren't they cute?" she said with a big grin on her face.

"We call those 'calves' ma'am," said a voice behind them. The ranch foreman had walked into the barn leading a full-grown steer. The steer had a wide set of horns, with an "LBJ" stamp clearly visible on the right horn.

"Oh, hello!" said the Doctor as he turned around. "Sorry, we were just looking for the party."

The ranch foreman looked the Doctor up and down. "The party is down by the live oaks near the river. Just look for the big tents – you can't miss it. This here barn isn't open to the public yet, but if you promise to leave the cows alone and don't open any pens, I reckon y'all can stay. We're still bringin' in a few prize Herefords to show off, like this fellow." He indicated the steer he was leading.

"Actually, I was rather hoping to find the tents," said Rory, his stomach rumbling.

"Just go out through the doors over there," the ranch foreman said, waving to the far doors. "You'll see the tents straight ahead and across the drive."

"Thanks," replied Rory. He looked at the others. "Shall we?" They turned to go.

"Oh, and Miss?" called the ranch foreman. Amy turned back to look at him. "Watch out for cow patties. Cows aren't particular where they do their business. I'd hate to see them pretty white shoes messed up." He gave her a nod and resumed leading the steer to an empty pen.

"So why does Amy get warned and we don't?" asked Rory as they made their way through the barn, treading carefully.

"It's the times," replied the Doctor. "Women are to be protected, and men are expected to be on their own lookout."

The ranch foreman watched the three visitors as they exited the barn.

"Everything ready in here Dale?" asked a man as he walked into the barn. He was tall with thinning hair combed straight back, his face creased from exposure to the sun.

"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson, just about," replied Dale, the ranch foreman. "Just getting some stray visitors settled. English, I'd guess. Mr. All-hat-and-no-cattle and two friends, a man and a lady."

Lyndon Johnson sighed. Lady Bird Johnson had been campaigning to relocate cattle operations to another part of the property away from the main house. She didn't like the smell, and she didn't like visitors wandering around unescorted and possibly getting themselves hurt. If she spotted visitors leaving the Martin barn before it was open, he wouldn't hear the end of it. "Let's get this set up as soon as possible. Have the rent-a-toilets arrived yet?"

Both men could hear the sound of a truck pulling up at the back of the barn. "I reckon that's them now," replied Dale. As they walked outside, a driver jumped down from the cab of a large flatbed truck transporting six enclosed portable toilets. A second truck was waiting a few yards away, engine idling.

"Afternoon, Mr. Johnson. Where would you like these set up?" the driver asked as he glanced around.

Lyndon turned to Dale. "I'll leave you fellows to it. It's time I went and served the people," he said with a smile. Before walking off, he pointed to the TARDIS. "Just line them up with that one."

As Amy, Rory and the Doctor walked across a wide, open, grassy area towards the tents, they noticed a small airplane flying overhead. It turned, and appeared to be coming towards them as it lost altitude.

"Isn't that plane a little low?" Rory said as he pointed. With the three of them out in the open, it brought to Rory's mind the scene from "North by Northwest" when a small bi-plane chased Cary Grant across a corn field.

"It's good to be Vice President," remarked the Doctor as the airplane continued to lose altitude and flew by low overhead, wheels touching down not far from where they stood. "This ranch has its own airstrip."

"Its own airstrip?" said Amy, surprised. "This place must be absolutely huge."

"Oh it is," replied the Doctor. "It's 2,700 acres." Both Amy and Rory's jaws dropped.

The plane came taxiing back down the runway and parked near a small hanger not far from the main house. Amy could see two men climb out. They were briefly greeted by someone who shook each man's hand. The two new arrivals walked in their direction. As they got closer, Amy could see they were both wearing jumpsuits of some kind, and both had short crew-cuts. They seemed military. "I wonder who they might be?"

"Let's find out," said the Doctor. As the two men approached, the Doctor stepped forward. "Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said as he reached out to shake hands. The two men stopped and held back.

"Not another doctor!" exclaimed one of the men. "I've been poked, prodded, measured, and evaluated enough as it is. This is supposed to be a break from routine!"

"Oh, a medical doctor you mean? No, no, I'm just here as a guest," replied the Doctor. "No poking or prodding – I promise."

The two men visibly relaxed. "Sorry about the misunderstanding," one of them said. He stuck out his hand and flashed a big smile. "Gus Grissom," he said while shaking the Doctor's hand. "And my buddy here is Gordon Cooper. We've just flown in from Cape Canaveral, Florida."

The Doctor flashed a big smile in return and seemed ready to bounce up and down with excitement. "Amy, Rory, I'd like you to meet two of the Mercury Seven astronauts!"

"Cool!" said Rory as they shook hands. "What's it like riding a rocket into space?"

Both astronauts laughed. "We haven't been into space yet," said Gus Grissom with a grin. "But if all goes as scheduled, I'll be riding a Redstone later this month – the next 'spam in a can,' as we say."

"Why spam in a can?" asked Amy.

"Because the capsule is so small," replied Gordon Cooper, smiling. "You don't so much ride it as wear it."

"Will you be able to go on a spacewalk?" Amy asked, thinking about the time when she first met the Doctor. He had held her by the ankle while she floated outside the TARDIS among the stars.

The two astronauts looked at each other. "What's a spacewalk?"

_Oops!_ Amy tried to rally. "Oh, I thought perhaps as long as you're up there wearing a spacesuit, you could open up the hatch and float outside instead of being stuck inside the whole time."

The astronauts looked at each other again, excited. "Out of the mouths of babes!" exclaimed Gus. "What a great idea! It can't be done with a Mercury capsule – once it's sealed the only way to open it again is to blow the bolts. We've asked that the next generation Gemini capsule have a real hatch that can be opened and closed."

"Yeah," said Gordon. "But some of the engineers have been pushing back. They want to keep things simple. If they had it their way, there wouldn't even be any windows!" He turned to Gus. "Let's talk to Johnson. Maybe he can push the idea from the top down. A spacewalk! That at least is something the Russians haven't done. Thanks Amy!" The two astronauts walked off together talking.

"Oh dear!" said Amy "Have I blown it?" She gave the Doctor a worried look.

"Not at all," replied the Doctor as they resumed their walk to the tents. "The Russians will be the first to spacewalk, although it was a rush job to beat the Americans. The cosmonaut who did it nearly died."

When the Doctor first mentioned a barbecue party, Amy had assumed a gathering of people inside a house, perhaps as many as fifty people for a large gathering at a large house. Up ahead were three very large tents completely open on the sides. Their main purpose seemed to be to provide shade. There were many rows of long tables set up. The tantalizing smell of barbecue sauce and smoked meat overwhelmed any barnyard smells that might have still been around. Each tent could easily accommodate a hundred people or more. Small children were everywhere it seemed, running, shouting, and laughing. There were two lines for food, with people patiently waiting in each.

"Okay, this is a much grander scale than I was expecting," Amy commented to Rory.

A large woman, who seemed ready to burst the seams of her dress, overheard Amy. She smiled and said, "Oh honey, didn't they tell you? Everything's bigger in Texas!" She became more business-like. "Welcome, folks. The lines start at that end, and it doesn't matter which one you get in – it's all the same. Just grab a plate and utensils and work your way along. Take all you want, but we do ask you eat all you get. Starving children in China you know." She waved them on.

"Starving children in China?" Amy commented to Rory as they waited their turn. He simply shrugged. At the start of the serving table, there were stacks of white paper plates and piles of stamped steel knives, forks and spoons.

They soon had plates piled high with potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, a large thick piece of white bread called "Texas toast" and, of course, barbecue beef which was shredded and covered in a red sauce. At the end of the food line, a tall man wearing a light-colored suit, narrow black tie and a narrow brimmed hat used a pair of tongs to lay three of the largest ribs Amy had ever seen across the whole plate, telling her, "Here you go little lady."

"How am I supposed to eat all this?" remarked Amy as they looked for a place to sit at one of the tables.

"Don't worry," Rory said with a grin. "I'm here to help." They put their plates down at an empty table and Rory took off looking for something to drink. He soon returned carefully holding three paper cups.

"Watch out," he said. "These 'Dixie' cups collapse easily. Two have lemonade, and this one has iced tea."

"Tea?" said Amy. "In a paper cup with ice? No thanks." As Rory settled down, Amy continued. "What's with calling me 'honey' and 'little lady' anyway?"

"Oh, they're just being friendly Amy," said the Doctor. "And by the way, the man who gave you those ribs? That was Vice President Johnson himself."

"Really?" said Amy as she turned to look back at the serving table. She faced the Doctor. "I can't help but notice he's not wearing a bolo tie," she smirked. "Nor is he wearing a Stetson – at least, I don't think it's a Stetson."

"Other people are, though," the Doctor replied as he picked up a rib. "Just look around."

As Amy ate, another thought occurred to her. "Say, you don't suppose what we're eating is related to the cows we saw in that barn do you?"

"They probably are. Why?" asked the Doctor while enthusiastically starting on a second rib.

After that, Amy focused mainly on her vegetables and bread, only picking at the barbecue. Rory eyed her plate. "Are you going to eat that?" he asked.

"Here, you can have it," she said, and slid her plate over to Rory, who happily tucked in. She got up, walked to the tent edge and leaned against a tent pole while looking out over the Pedernales River.

The Doctor walked up and stood by Amy. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Do you think I can watch the news?" Amy suddenly asked.

"Well, I imagine there's a radio or telly up at the house," he replied, a little thrown off by the topic. "You can always ask."

"Thanks, I'll do that," she replied, and took off.

The Doctor returned to the table and sat back down. "What's Amy up to?" asked Rory.

"I've no idea," replied the Doctor. "For some reason she wants to watch the news." They both returned to finishing their meals.

As Amy walked up to the house, a man in a business suit and dark glasses standing by the front door took a step towards her. "Can I help you miss?"

"Sorry, I was just wondering," replied Amy. "Would it be possible to watch a news broadcast?"

"Please wait here and I'll check." He stepped inside and was back momentarily with a second man in a suit. The two conferred while occasionally glancing at Amy. She gave them a smile. A decision was reached.

"You're good to go," said the man in the dark glasses. "There are two TV's set up so you have a choice. The rooms are pretty full already. Have fun."

Amy thanked him and walked in. From the closest room she could hear a television. "…brought to you by Camel cigarettes. America's favorite cigarette..." She looked in the door, but it appeared to be too crowded. As she walked on, she could hear another television up ahead. This room was less crowded, but all the seats were taken. Amy was the only woman present. She quietly stepped into the back of the room to watch.

"From NBC news, this is the Huntley-Brinkley Report. Good evening, I'm Chet Huntley in New York."

"I'm David Brinkley in Washington. Private funeral arrangements have been made for noted author Ernest Hemingway, who died two days ago of a gunshot wound at his home in Ketchum, Idaho. President Kennedy mourned the death of Hemingway, whom he called one of America's greatest authors and, 'one of the great citizens of the world.'"

"In Selma Alabama, freedom riders lead by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were arrested today as they stepped off their bus before gathering to march…."

Rory and the Doctor were waiting for Amy outside the house. "Did you find what you were looking for?" asked the Doctor as they began to walk back to the TARDIS.

"No," replied Amy. "For some reason, I was expecting there to be news about that submarine: _K-19_."

"There won't be any," replied the Doctor. "The accident was kept secret for decades."

The barn was open, with visitors coming and going. The Doctor, Rory and Amy cut through the barn, and Amy waved good-bye to the cows as they went past.

"What?" said the Doctor as they came out the other side. "What?"

Rent-a-toilets were lined up on either side of the TARDIS, which sat proudly in the center. A few people were lined up waiting their turns. There was a woman waiting in front of the TARDIS, arms crossed, and legs slightly crossed too. Amy and Rory burst out laughing. The Doctor sputtered as he pulled out his key.

"Excuse me!" said the woman indignantly as the Doctor pushed his way in front of her. "I was here first!"

"Sorry love," replied the Doctor as he unlocked the TARDIS. "This is a garden shed. You'll have to queue up at one of the others. Come along Ponds!" Amy and Rory fell into the TARDIS laughing.

The woman banged on the TARDIS door. "Hey! Open up! It was my turn!" She was shocked speechless when the TARDIS began to make groaning noises and faded away.

Amy and Rory were still laughing. "Well," managed Rory between bouts. "You did say the TARDIS is supposed to blend in with its surroundings. And so it did – without even trying!"

"Good girl! Don't you listen to them!" said the Doctor as he stroked the console.

* * *

**K-19, In the North Atlantic Southeast of Greenland near a NATO post on Jan Mayen Island, 4 July 1961 04:15 hours**

The alarm klaxon began to sound. A few crewmembers grumbled. "Haven't we had enough drills already?" someone complained.

"Alert the captain!" shouted Lieutenant Boris Korchilov. "We are losing coolant pressure in the starboard reactor!" He turned to the reactor technician on duty. "Get the emergency manual!"

As Korchilov watched, the coolant pressure gage continued to drop. "Have you recycled the pumps?" he shouted to the technician.

"Yes Lieutenant! Twice, already. It's no good." The pressure gage dropped to zero.

"Switch to auxiliary pumps!"

The technician turned the necessary switches. "The auxiliary pumps are running, but we're not getting pressure. There must be a leak!"

"This is the Captain," said Zateyev's voice over the intercom. "Report!"

"The starboard reactor pumps have failed. Coolant pressure is at zero and the core temperature is rising rapidly!"

"SCRAM the reactors! Both of them!" ordered Captain Zateyev.

"SCRAM'ing port and starboard reactors. But Comrade Captain, the SCRAM rods alone will not be enough. It takes both the rods _and_ coolant to stop the reactor!"

"I am aware," replied Captain Zateyev. "But it's better than nothing." The lights dimmed in _K-19_ as the emergency lighting system kicked on.

"Comrade Captain, we are operating on batteries," reported Vasili Arkhipov. "But they won't last long – perhaps four to five hours before we have to surface."

"Then we will surface now. We must report our status to Moscow. Emergency surface."

"Blow all ballasts." ordered Vasili Arkhipov. "Bow planes up full."

"Blowing all ballasts! Bow planes up full."

"Surface! Surface! Surface!" announced the loudspeaker.

"Depth 80 meters! 60 meters! 40 meters! 20 meters!" K-19 broke surface, its bow lifting out of the ocean like a leaping whale before crashing back down.

"Raise the radio mast and three sweeps on the radar. Let's see what's around us."

"Comrade Captain, we have a contact bearing one-zero-seven. Looks like a destroyer – possibly American."

"I wonder if they're seen us," asked Vasili Arkhipov rhetorically.

Captain Zateyev snorted. "They'd have to be blind not to."

"Comrade Captain! The long-range radio is not working! We cannot contact Moscow!"

"Try it again!"

"Trying again… I'm sorry Comrade Captain – it simply isn't working."

Captain Zateyev thought for a moment. "Is anyone within reach of our short-range radio?"

"Only the American destroyer and the NATO outpost, Comrade Captain."

"Comrade Captain!" reported Lieutenant Korchilov. "The core temperature is already up to 400 degrees Celsius. At this rate, I estimate the core will reach 800 degrees in as little as twenty minutes, the point at which the control rods will melt."

"That's impossible!" exclaimed Captain Zateyev. "The temperature can't be climbing that fast! Have you visually checked the control rods?"

"Yes Comrade Captain, I have checked everything four times. The control rods are inserted. This should not be happening. According to everything I know and everything in the emergency manual, we should have hours, not minutes, even without the coolant circulating! It just doesn't make any sense!"

Captain Zateyev could hear the raw frustration in Korchilov's voice. "Thank you for your report, Comrade. Keep me apprised." Zateyev switched off the intercom and looked grim-faced at Vasili Arkhipov.

"Even if we were to radio the Americans for help – and I'm not saying we should," said Vasili Arkhipov, "they could not arrive in time, and they are the closest ship. In fact, it might even be viewed as a trap if we called the Americans, and as they approached, this boat blew up in a thermal explosion."

"With our luck," replied Captain Zateyev. "It might not just be a thermal explosion. We could be talking a nuclear explosion. There is really only one course of action."

The captain picked up the microphone and toggled it for all compartments. "Attention all comrades – this is the Captain. We face a dire situation. The starboard reactor has failed and is rapidly overheating. We have no time to conduct repairs, and no time to be rescued. At the rate the reactor is overheating, I fear we may be facing the worst possible disaster of all – a nuclear explosion. If that were to happen, the explosion will not only kill us, but destroy nearby American and NATO forces. Given current world tensions, the Americans will doubtless see this as an act of war committed by the Soviet Union, as indeed our leaders would see it if the situation were reversed."

Zateyev paused to clear his throat. "We must not let that happen – we will not let that happen. It is in our power to protect our country and our loved ones, but we have only one option. We must dive and allow the cold depths of the Atlantic to cool the reactor. You know what this means. All compartments – respond."

There was dead silence on the bridge for perhaps thirty seconds. The intercom seemed loud as a voice suddenly cut in and said, "Compartment One – manned and ready to do our duty to the motherland."

"Compartment Two – manned and ready."

"Compartment Three – manned and ready."

"Compartment Four – manned and ready."

All compartments reported in as ready. Captain Zateyev nodded to his executive. "Rig for diving."

Vasili took the microphone. "Sound diving alarm! All hands rig for diving. Close all hatches."

"All hatches closed. Radio and radar masts down. Ready to dive, Comrade Captain."

"Dive."

"Flood all ballasts. Bow planes down full." The bridge crew had to brace themselves as _K-19 _went into a steep dive.

"Depth 20 meters! 40 meters! 60 meters!"

Vasili Arkhipov saluted his captain. "Comrade Captain, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve as your executive officer."

Captain Zateyev saluted back, and then reached out to shake hands with Vasili. "The honor has been mine, Comrade."

"Depth 120 meters! 140 meters! 160 meters!"

One crewman began quietly singing the national anthem of the Soviet Union. Others quickly joined in, and within seconds most of the crew of _K-19_ was singing together.

"Be glorious, our free motherland,  
Strong bastion of the peoples' glory!  
Flag of the Soviets, Flag of the people,  
May it from victory to victory lead!"

"Depth 240 meters! 260 meters! Approaching crush depth!" Loud popping sounds and groans could be heard as _K-19_ sank deeper. The men sang louder.

On board the USS _Norfolk_, the destroyer trailing _K-19_, the sonar operator listened intently. The captain stood nearby. "Can you tell what they're up to?" asked the captain.

"I'm not sure skipper. They're diving deep, that's for sure, and I think I'm hearing singing too." Suddenly the sonar operator snatched off his headphones as they admitted a loud squeal. "Sweet Jesus Christ! I think that sub just imploded!"

The sound of _K-19_'s demise could be heard by listening posts as far away as Bermuda.


	5. The Silent Earth

Chapter 5 – The Silent Earth

The TARDIS completed its landing and was quietly humming. The Doctor walked around the console, tweaking settings here and there, until he was satisfied. He pulled off the bolo tie and was putting on his regular bowtie when Amy and Rory came walking back into the console room. They had changed back into their regular clothes.

"Here we are," said the Doctor, "back safe and sound. Your house should be just across the street, and I've even adjusted the landing time to match up with the time we were gone. So, no apparent aging problems." The Doctor bounced slightly, pleased. "A brilliant landing if I do say so myself."

Amy walked up to the Doctor and straightened his bowtie. "Overall Doctor, that wasn't a bad trip at all. Just the one hitch with that Russian sub, and I did get a reminder of where beef comes from – but I'd call it a success."

The Doctor beamed, and together they walked down the steps from the central console to the TARDIS doors. "Feel free to call me anytime," he said. "I'm always up for a good adventure."

Amy stopped to talk to the Doctor while Rory continued outside. She put on a more serious tone. "Now remember what I said about traveling alone. You really do need to have companions with you to keep you grounded."

"Uh, Amy?" said Rory with a worried tone.

"Just a minute hun – I'm talking to the Doctor."

"Amy?" Rory persisted. "You've really got to see this. The Doctor too."

In spite of the worry in Rory's voice, Amy was feeling a bit irritated at the interruption. "What now?" she said. She turned around and stepped up to the open TARDIS doors. Amy was stunned. "What the hell? WHERE'S OUR HOUSE!"

"More to the point," replied Rory while looking around. "Where's London?"

The scene was one of complete and total devastation. The sky was tinged yellow with thick dark clouds. Rubble lay strewn in all directions – coarse chunks of bricks, mortar, cobblestone, and savagely twisted pieces of rusted steel. There were occasional low brick walls with ragged, uneven, tops – the scorched remains of collapsed buildings – all lined up in the same direction. It was strangely silent in the absence of the usual city noises one learns to ignore: no traffic, no aircraft in flight, no people, no pets, and no birds. Only the wind made its presence known.

As Amy, Rory and the Doctor circled around the TARDIS in silence, they spotted an old church still standing. It appeared to be relatively intact. Apart from the TARDIS, it was the only recognizable object in sight.

The three of them began to carefully pick their way through the rubble towards the church.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, buzzed it in several directions and held it up. "The background radiation level is elevated, but tolerable for the time being. I wouldn't recommend being out here longer than a fortnight."

Amy's foot slipped on loose rubble, but Rory caught her and held her steady. Amy was too numb to register Rory's rescue as she looked around in shock.

"We should stick to walking where the streets used to be – if we can tell the difference," the Doctor suggested quietly. "Less likely to fall into an old cellar that way."

It took about thirty minutes of careful footwork to walk less than two hundred yards from the TARDIS to the old church. Up close, the church was in a much worse condition than it seemed from a distance. As they walked around it, they came to a collapsed wall exposing the interior. Inside the church, an old-fashioned double decker bus was strangely perched at an angle about thirty feet up in the air, resting precariously on crumbling support arches, twisted and badly rusted, as if a giant child had carelessly tossed aside a toy. As they moved closer to the bizarre sight, it suddenly struck them the bus was full of human bones. More bones were scattered beneath the bus.

Amy turned and buried her face in Rory's shoulder. Rory was grim-faced as he worked to maintain his composure.

The Doctor scanned the bus and the bones beneath it. "This has been here for decades," he said. "Those bones are in poor condition. Touch one, and it will likely collapse into powder. More than a few already have." He put away his sonic screwdriver. "We need to find out what happened. We can't do that here. Come on – let's head back." They turned and began to carefully work their way back to the TARDIS.

"Could this be a different Earth, Doctor?" asked Rory. "Maybe the TARDIS jumped tracks into a parallel universe?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No, this is definitely our universe. Yes, there have been a couple of exceptions, but the TARDIS isn't really designed to cross from one universe to another. It's simply too risky. It tears at the very fabric of reality."

Amy glared at the Doctor. "If this is our 21st century Earth, then I'd say the fabric of reality has been torn to shreds!" she said furiously. "Look around you!"

"Yes," replied the Doctor. "But the damage is at least stable, which means the universe is not in danger of collapsing." He spoke with improving optimism. "This means we have a chance to find out what happened and put things right."

Amy waved back at the church with its suspended bus. "How can you call this stable? It hardly looks stable to me." She was still upset, but was beginning to calm down.

"Because an unstable change creates a paradox," the Doctor said as he stepped up to the TARDIS and began fishing in his pocket for the key. "Or one could just as easily say a paradox creates an unstable change – it's all relative. Imagine a chicken and a banana popping into existence simultaneously… no wait, forget the chicken and banana. Here's a simple test. A time paradox attracts a type of nasty bat-winged four-armed creature that feeds on it – and I'm speaking from experience. We are not being attacked by bat-winged four-armed time paradox creatures, ergo the present reality, however unpleasant, is stable."

The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS doors and pushed them open. Much to his relief, the interior of the TARDIS was intact. As they walked in, he continued his explanation. "Time paradoxes can cause very weird things to happen. The fact that nothing bad has happened to the TARDIS is more evidence of stability. That's how I know we have a fighting chance."

The Doctor circled the console and pulled a lever. "This will be a short hop." The TARDIS thrummed for a few seconds and quickly reverted back to its usual background hum.

"Everybody grab a torch!" the Doctor announced as he went to the TARDIS doors and flung them open. Outside was pitch black. The Doctor pulled a rather large, old-fashioned looking flashlight out of his pocket.

Rory reached into a pocket and pulled out two small, sleek LED flashlights. He handed one to Amy. Amy looked at Rory with a raised eyebrow. "With the Doctor, you never know when you need a torch," he said with a shrug.

The TARDIS had landed in an institutional looking hallway. The walls were concrete, stained with peeling paint. The floor had overlapping water stains, but was dry at the moment. Overhead were bulging water-stained ceiling tiles and dangling fluorescent light fixtures. More than a few tiles had fallen out of the ceiling and lay on the floor half crumbed. "Where are we?" asked Amy.

"Deep underground, somewhere beneath 10 Downing Street," replied the Doctor. "There's a whole rats nest of tunnels like this one under most government buildings, some dating back prior to World War II. I'm hoping we might find some answers here." They began to walk down the hallway, their steps echoing loudly in the quiet.

"Speaking of rats," said Rory as he looked around. "Have you noticed there aren't any? This place is perfect for them, and yet I see no rats."

Amy jumped as several startled cockroaches suddenly scurried away. "Enough bugs though," she replied. Something caught Amy's eye, and she aimed her flashlight up ahead. "What's that lump on the floor?"

"A body," replied Rory as they got closer. He bent over for a closer look. "Not much left of it – mostly bones inside of clothes. This was a woman, and the clothes, from what I can tell, look pretty dated. That must have been a wool or cotton dress, because there's not much left of it."

They moved on, and soon came to a doorway on the right. "Looks like a store room," commented the Doctor as they went in. There were several rows of rusted steel shelving. Most of the shelves were empty, a few had collapsed, but a few were still stocked with canned goods.

"Care for some green beans?" Rory asked with a smile as he reached out for one of the cans. It had rusted to the metal shelf and took some effort to break it loose. He turned the can around. "No barcode. When did barcodes first appear on tins? These have to be at least thirty or forty years old."

They left the store room and tried the next door a few feet farther down the hallway. This room had several steel desks set up. A few had electric typewriters. Amy smiled. "My aunt has one of these up in her attic. I used to play with it. Hers has a little ball that does the typing, but these are different. This resembles a curved row of teeth."

Rory looked around. "Yeah, and no computers anywhere in here."

"Not necessarily," said the Doctor. "Look over there." He pointed to what looked like two freestanding typewriters inside large, bulky cases.

Amy frowned. "Aren't those more typewriters?"

"No, those are teletypes," replied the Doctor. "They could have been used for outside communications, or be connected to a mainframe computer. Assuming a computer, that dates this place to the 1970's at the latest, but I suspect this is older."

The next room had a gruesome inventory: corpses. There was a putrid odor clinging to the room – faint but unmistakable. The bodies in the back of the room and along the left wall were neatly arranged, but the other side was less organized, and on the far right bodies had simply been dropped into an irregular pile.

Rory was surprised. As a nurse he knew how cadavers should be handled and had dealt with transporting the occasional former patient to the hospital morgue, but this was something else. He looked around. "No refrigeration. The smell must have been terrible in here," he said quietly. "I wonder why they didn't dispose of these bodies properly?"

Amy looked pale, her hand covering her mouth. "Perhaps they…. Excuse me." Amy turned and ran out of the room.

Rory and the Doctor found Amy leaned over, retching, hand against the wall to steady herself. She wiped away a bit of spittle with her fingers and looked up, miserable. "Sorry," she said as she straightened up. "The smell got to me."

Rory put his arms around Amy and gave her a hug. He reached up and pushed back a stray lock of hair. "No need to apologize," he said gently. "I have been there and done that." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small tin. "Have a mint. It helps."

"Thanks," Amy said as she took one. Rory held Amy close as she collected herself.

"Hmm," said the Doctor. "Perhaps I should start carrying jelly babies again." He quietly closed the door to the makeshift morgue and locked it with his sonic screwdriver.

Rory gave Amy a quick squeeze. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks," Amy replied with a tentative smile. "I think I'm ready to move on."

The next few rooms were set up as sleeping quarters, with bunk beds jammed as close together as possible. They quickly passed those by.

After skipping an empty room, the one after that was a bit of an oddity. It was very large, and there was no need to enter. There were large, sealed windows set into the wall, each about three feet wide and five feet tall. Anyone walking past could easily look inside. Proudly on display was a large electronic box, easily the size of six or more large refrigerators put together, and other boxy pieces of equipment scattered around. As they shined their flashlights on the big box, they could make out a label at the top: **IBM 1401**

"That," said the Doctor "is an early computer. Your microwave at home might very well have more computing power; it would certainly have more memory. We won't get anything useful out of that."

They moved on to the next room. This one looked like an administrator's office. A large wooden desk dominated the center, a credenza behind it. Off to one side was a secretary's desk and filing cabinets. An electric typewriter sat on the floor beside the secretary's desk, as if pushed aside and forgotten. In its place on the desk sat an old manual typewriter, a stack of typed pages beside it. "This looks more promising," said the Doctor as he walked over to the secretary's desk. He picked up a fragile yellowing piece of paper and began to read out loud.

* * *

_2 Nov. 1962 - I am not sure what is prompting me to write this down._  
_Realistically, it is unlikely anyone from outside will ever read these words._  
_Still, I have an urge to record for posterity, in the hope there will be a_  
_posterity._

_I expect I should begin at the beginning. Properly speaking, "the business",_  
_as everyone is calling it, really began on 22 October 1962. That was the real_  
_start of the war, even if most people speak of the business as beginning on_  
_27 October, the day the bombs began to fall._

_22 October was when President Kennedy announced to the world the discovery of_  
_Soviet missiles in Cuba pointed at the United States. The US response was to_  
_"quarantine" Cuba, which is another way of saying blockade, and a blockade_  
_is, technically speaking, an act of war._

_The Soviet Union did not take kindly to this. Khrushchev called it a "pirate_  
_Action" and warned it would lead to war, saying, "The Soviet Union cannot_  
_fail to reject the arbitrary demands of the United States." Nor did they._

_We don't know the exact details, but Soviet forces were sent to challenge the_  
_quarantine. One thing lead to another, and on Saturday, 27 October, a nuclear_  
_weapon was used against US ships in international waters near Cuba. The USS_  
_Newport News, USS Essex, USS Beale and other ships sank that day with all_  
_hands lost – over 5,000 men. As the newspapers pointed out, more lives were_  
_lost that day than in the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese on 7_  
_December 1941._

_The next day, on Sunday, 28 October 1962, a special session of the US_  
_Congress formally declared war against the Soviet Union and by extension,_  
_Cuba. The US began by bombing missile sites in Cuba, followed by an invasion_  
_of Cuba itself. The Soviet Union retaliated by invading West Berlin and_  
_West Germany. This brought NATO forces into the fight._  
_Communist China, as an ally of the Soviet Union, began invasions of South_  
_Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan._

_Someone – we don't know who – simply couldn't resist the nuclear option. It_  
_hardly matters now. All we do know is that the nuclear exchange happened on_  
_All Hallows' Eve, Wednesday, 31 October 1962._

_We are cut off from the outside world. We have food and water for the time_  
_being, but given the number of people down here, it can't last long, even_  
_with rationing. Dr. Blake, in a none too subtle fashion, has informed me his_  
_medical supplies include enough cyanide pills to kill everyone here three_  
_times over. I hope it doesn't come to that._

* * *

Rory raised a finger in objection. "Okay, none of that happened – not in our reality, anyway."

"Not so," said the Doctor, looking up. "It was called the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. President Kennedy did publicly call out the Russians on it, and the US did impose a blockade. There was also a confrontation between US and Soviet forces. The difference is it didn't escalate to a shooting war – only just. It was a very close thing."

The Doctor leafed through a few more pages. "This journal goes on about daily life in this facility, deteriorating conditions, loss of hope, but this!" The Doctor held up the first page. "This is the important bit. This is pure gold." He marched out of the room and turned to face Amy and Rory from the hallway. "Come along Ponds! Back to the TARDIS."

Amy frowned as they walked along. "I don't understand, Doctor. We visited the 4th of July 1961. The events here happened over a year later in October 1962. Is there really a connection?"

"Oh yes!" replied the Doctor. "There has to be, and my guess is it has to do with that submarine, _K-19_."

Amy waved her hands. "But what about our visit to the barbecue? We spent a lot more time there than we did on that sub." Her eyes widened as an idea occurred to her. "The astronauts! Oh my God! That must have been it! Somehow that must have triggered a change in history!" Amy was upset, on the verge of tears.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, no! That isn't it. It's not your fault, Amy." The Doctor sighed. "Simply put, the barbecue is one of those easy-to-visit events with little influence on history. The danger points are fixed points in time. Some are greater, some smaller, but generally they are to be avoided. _K-19_ is one of those points."

"But Doctor!" Amy said, a hint of frustration in her voice. "We didn't do anything! We came, and then we left as quickly as possible. Not unless you think that guy, Boris, flirting with me somehow changed the course of history!"

Rory gave Amy a look of concern. "Actually, you haven't really said much about that. Just what happened, Amy?"

Amy rolled her eyes. "There isn't anything to tell, Rory. You saw Boris. He was full of himself and wanted to show off his equipment." She held up a finger. "And before you say it, by 'equipment' I mean that reactor." Amy paused and smiled. "Although I suppose he had other equipment in mind as well."

They were in sight of the TARDIS. Rory looked at Amy speculatively. "And that was it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yeah, that was it," replied Amy. "I mean, he showed me the reactor and started talking about the future. I think he expected us to have flying atomic cars by the 21st century. Then there was that weird flash of blue light, and then I went back to where you two were."

The Doctor came to a dead stop in front of the TARDIS. Amy and Rory nearly ran into him. The Doctor spun around, TARDIS key in hand and a look of concern on his face. "Did you say a flash of blue light?"

Amy was nonplused. "Uh… yeah. I mentioned this before. Why?"

The Doctor closed his eyes for a second, thinking back. He opened them again. "So you did. I should have paid more attention." He turned to unlock the TARDIS.

As they walked in, the Doctor said casually, "And after that you walked forward to meet us? Unescorted?"

Amy did not understand the Doctor's concern. "That's right," she said, and folded her arms defensively.

The Doctor went to the console and began to adjust settings. As he worked, he said, "And it didn't occur to you to wonder about that? We were not crewmembers, and we were on board a military boat with classified equipment. Boris should not have taken you to see the reactor in the first place – that was bad enough – but at least in him you had an officer as escort. By no means should you have been allowed to wander freely about that submarine, even if they did think you were KGB."

Rory stood with his own arms crossed, looking back and forth between Amy and the Doctor. "He's right you know," Rory said quietly. "That should not have happened."

"Oh, and by the way," the Doctor said as the TARDIS started up. His expression was grim. "Reactors don't flash. We are returning to _K-19_."


	6. Where Time Lords Fear to Tread

Chapter 6 – Where Time Lords fear to Tread

**K-19, In the North Atlantic Southeast of Greenland near a NATO post on Jan Mayen Island, 4 July 1961 04:10 hours**

Executive Officer Vasili Arkhipov lay in his bunk asleep when the strange thrumming, groaning sound started up again. Years of navy service had taught him to be sensitive to any unusual sounds, because anything unusual generally meant trouble. He snapped awake in time to hear the sound fade away. Vasili quickly dressed and stepped out into the corridor. Standing at the end of the compartment were the three so-called KGB agents who were so talented at disappearing without a trace: the Doctor, Amelia Pondkina, and Roryski Pondkin.

Vasili paused to knock on the captain's door and then went to confront the three. "That's quite the vanishing act you three pulled." He looked around briefly. "I assume you have something to do with this cabin?" Vasili pointed straight at the TARDIS. "A cabin that isn't in the plans for this boat?"

The Doctor was surprised, but tried to cover. "Now now, you know as well as I do not everything is put in plans and maps. There are entire military bases that don't officially exist and never appear in maps."

"Yes, that is so," replied Vasili coolly. "But you seem to have taken it a step further with a cabin that appears and disappears!"

The Doctor was intrigued. How could this man be so certain? "What makes you believe a cabin can appear and disappear?"

"This cabin," Vasili declared in a tone that brooked no argument, "was not here an hour ago. After the last strange noise, I marked the end of the cabins." He pointed down. "Now look at my mark." A chalk arrow on the deck pointed between the last cabin and the TARDIS.

"Humans!" the Doctor exclaimed. He turned to Amy and Rory. "The TARDIS has stealth technology designed to fool detection systems thousands of years more advanced than anything on Earth… and it's defeated by a piece of chalk!" A big smile broke out on the Doctor's face. "I love human ingenuity! There's nothing else like it in the universe."

Captain Zateyev stepped out of his cabin, half awake, and walked up behind Vasili. As he was about to speak, the alarm klaxon interrupted his thoughts.

A voice called over the intercom. "This is not a drill. Repeat. This is not a drill. We have a reactor alarm!"

Zateyev ran to the closest intercom. "This is the Captain. Report!"

"The starboard reactor pumps have failed. Coolant pressure is at zero and the core temperature is rising rapidly!"

"SCRAM the reactors! Both of them!" Captain Zateyev commanded.

"SCRAM'ing port and starboard reactors! But Comrade Captain, the SCRAM rods alone will not be enough. It takes both the rods _and_ coolant to stop the reactor!"

"Captain!" called the Doctor. "I am an expert in the field of nuclear reactors. I can help, if you will let me."

Captain Zateyev stared at the Doctor for a moment. "Go!" he said, pointing down the corridor.

"You two stay here!" the Doctor called to Amy and Rory. He turned and ran for the reactor compartment.

The captain turned back to the intercom. "I am aware," he replied. "But it's better than nothing." The lights dimmed in _K-19_ as the emergency lighting system kicked on. "I am sending the Colonel Doctor to you."

Zateyev turned to Amy and Rory. "You will accompany us to the bridge. I want you where I can see you. No more hide and seek games." Rory and Amy looked at each other and nodded. As a group, the four of them proceeded forward to the bridge.

* * *

In the reactor compartment, the reactor technician could not believe what he was seeing. "Comrade Lieutenant," he called, a tone of fear distinct in his voice. "The core temperature is already past 370 degrees Celsius!"

Lieutenant Boris Korchilov waved dismissively. "You must have misread the instruments," he said as he stepped over. "The temperature simply cannot climb that fast."

The technician pointed at the panel. "I wish it were that simple. See for yourself."

Korchilov felt the hairs on the nape of his neck rise as he scanned the instrumentation. He reached out and tapped the temperature gauge. The needle jumped to 395 degrees. "That can't be happening! That's–"

"Impossible?" said a voice behind him.

Korchilov turned around, startled. "You're that Colonel with the KGB, aren't you?"

The man smiled. "Yes, but call me the Doctor. As it happens, I am a nuclear reactor expert. I'm here to help." He walked over to the instrument panel and began to scan it with his sonic screwdriver. "Now then, the symptoms are the core in the starboard reactor is heating up faster than it has any right to, is that about it?"

"Yes Doctor, that's it exactly!" exclaimed Korchilov. "It just doesn't make any sense! It can't be happening, and yet it is!"

The Doctor stopped scanning and looked at his sonic screwdriver. He glanced up at Korchilov. "Quite so. Under ordinary conditions, you should easily have four to five hours before the core reaches 800 degrees Celsius; more than enough time to complete an emergency repair."

The Doctor pointed to the sealed doorway into the reactor chamber. "I shall need to examine things directly. If you would be so kind as to open that hatch?"

"That hatch is meant to stay sealed while we are at sea, Doctor," said Korchilov. "It should only be opened in an extreme emergency."

"Which is exactly what we have on our hands!" replied the Doctor. "Look at the core temperature."

Korchilov turned back to the panel. The temperature now read 445 degrees.

"I am only asking as a courtesy," said the Doctor evenly. "If necessary, I will open it myself."

Korchilov wasn't keen to trust someone he knew nothing about, but he found the Doctor's self-confidence reassuring. Besides, there was nothing to lose at this point. Korchilov nodded. "Alright! I'll unseal the hatch." He walked over and took out a key. He paused, a serious expression on his face. "You should not spend more than ten minutes in there. That's the protocol, whether there's radiation present or not."

"That should be time enough," replied the Doctor.

Korchilov unlocked the hatch and stood by. "Ready?" he said.

The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver. "Ready!" he replied. Korchilov pulled open the chamber hatch and slammed it shut behind the Doctor. Korchilov started his stopwatch to time him. As he watched the Doctor through the portal, Korchilov could see him leaning over something out of view. Korchilov couldn't imagine what the Doctor was doing; that area of the chamber had nothing but sealed pipes.

The technician breathed a sigh of relief. "Lieutenant! The temperature has stabilized," he called out. Korchilov went over to the panel. The technician pointed to one of the gages. "Look! We're getting coolant pressure again." The pressure gauge rose, then faltered and stabilized at 30% of normal.

Korchilov felt a weight off his shoulders. "Good… good. The temperature is starting to drop." He grinned. "It's 440 and falling slowly."

There was a banging knock on the hatch. Korchilov opened it to let the Doctor out. He closed it once more and stopped his watch. "Five minutes thirty-two seconds, Doctor. Good job!"

"Not as good as I'd like," replied the Doctor. He had taken off his jacket and had something wrapped in it. "I could only manage a temporary repair. It won't hold for long, and when it fails again, that will be that. You do have time to affect repairs now. Best get started."

Korchilov noticed something silvery peeking out from the Doctor's jacket. "What is that? I don't recall having a piece of equipment like that."

"A last minute addition. I need to show this to the captain." The Doctor headed forward towards the bridge.

Lieutenant Korchilov watched him go, and turned to his technician. "Pull the plans. We need to figure out a way to get water into the cooling system before it fails again."

* * *

Once the Doctor was out of view, he stopped and carefully unwrapped the object. He scanned it with his sonic screwdriver, and checked the readout. He sighed. "I was afraid of that." He re-wrapped the object and continued on to the bridge.

"Raise the radio mast and three sweeps on the radar. Let's see what's around us," ordered Captain Zateyev.

"Comrade Captain, we have a contact bearing one-zero-seven. Looks like a destroyer – possibly American."

"I wonder if they've seen us," asked Vasili Arkhipov rhetorically.

"Quite probably," said the Doctor as he entered the bridge. "But they are not important. This," he said as he held up his jacket, "is far more important."

"What have you got there?" asked Captain Zateyev.

The Doctor pulled the object out of his jacket and held it up. It was a silvery disk about the size of a dinner plate. "This is the source of your problem, Captain. I am sorry to say your boat has been sabotaged!"

A collective gasp could be heard from the crew. "The Americans! It must be!" exclaimed the political officer.

The Doctor gave him a disdainful look. "No, the Americans had nothing to do with this. In fact, no one on Earth had anything to do with this, because this…" The Doctor waved the disk in the air. "…this is not Earth technology!"

Captain Zateyev and Vasili Arkhipov looked at each other and back at the Doctor. "That's quite an extraordinary claim, Doctor," Vasili Arkhipov said in a carefully even tone. He wasn't sure if the Doctor was quite right in the head. "Do you have any proof besides an unusual discus an athlete might throw in a sporting event?"

"Oh yes!" exclaimed the Doctor. "I'm getting to that. Amy? Rory? Does this look familiar to either of you?"

Amy flatly crossed her arms. "No!" she said in a huff.

Rory frowned as he looked at the disk. "You know, Amy, that does have a familiar look to it. It's almost like a miniature…." Rory paled as realization struck him. "No! It can't be! Amy, don't you see?"

Amy looked at both the Doctor and Rory in utter disbelief. "What are you two on about? It's just a bloody disk!"

Rory pointed at the disk. "That," he said in a slightly quaking voice, "is Dalek technology!"

The Doctor pointed to Rory. "Top of the class! Yes, this is of Dalek origin."

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Amy. "How could a piece of Dalek technology wind up here? That's ridiculous!"

"It was planted of course," declared the Doctor as he tossed the disk onto the plot table, "by a Dalek sleeper agent." He turned and looked at Amy, his expression unreadable. "The thing about sleeper agents, of course, is that they don't know they are sleeper agents. Amy? Step away from Rory, would you please?"

Amy did as asked, her face absolutely rigid. "Doctor? How could Rory be a sleeper agent? He can't be! Not my Rory!" she pleaded. Her eyes shone brightly as tears began to form.

"Quite right," replied the Doctor gently. "Rory is not the sleeper agent."

Amy looked at the Doctor and Rory in shock, jaw dropped, hands on hips. "You think I'm a sleeper agent? I can't believe you! Rory! You know me better than that!"

The Doctor's face began to show his great sadness. "I'm sorry Rory. I'm really, really, sorry. Amy was exposed to the nanocloud when we were in the Dalek asylum planet. I put my own bracelet on her to stop the nanites, but it seems the bracelet only prevents infection. Amy was already infected when she received mine."

"Captain Zateyev, I wouldn't be too hard on Lieutenant Korchilov," the Doctor continued. He pointed to Amy. "I'm sure she did something to the Lieutenant – a chemical inducement perhaps – to make him open to suggestion. Sleeper agents are good at their job."

The Doctor took a step towards Amy, holding her attention. "You were the only one of us to go visit the reactor, and then there's this." The Doctor held up a small piece of white cloth. "This is the missing piece of your glove, Amy. I found it inside the sealed reactor chamber." He laid the piece down on top of the Dalek disk.

Amy's eyes took on a glazed, far-away look. She jerkily turned towards the crew who had been watching the exchange in utter silence.

There was a flash of blue light.

Most of the crew collapsed at their stations. Amy turned back, a glowing blue Dalek eyestalk visibly sticking out of her forehead. "That was a warning," she said to those still standing, which included the political officer, Captain Zateyev, Vasili Arkhipov, Rory, and the Doctor. "This vessel is too primitive to operate efficiently without a large crew. Therefore I have only stunned them. The next time I use my weapon, it will be to exterminate."

"Amy!" said Rory in desperation. "I know some part of you has to be in there. You have to fight it Amy! Fight it!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry Rory. She's not Amy any more. She's a Dalek, and probably has been for a while."

Dalek-Amy turned to Rory. "I became fully activated shortly after returning from that primitive encampment called Mercy." She looked around the bridge of the submarine. "The Parliament of Daleks may have forgotten you, Doctor, but we have not forgotten humans!"

"All right! I've heard enough!" yelled Igor Boyakov, the political officer. "Comrade Captain, this is all complete and utter nonsense. That woman committed an act of sabotage! If you will not take action, then I will do so on my own authority, and you can be sure I will include you in my report as having neglected your duty!" He pointed to Dalek-Amy. "You are under arrest! I want this woman—"

Dalek-Amy raised her arm, and a weapon stalk extruded from the palm of her hand. The political officer was engulfed in a flash of light so bright it caused his skeleton to become briefly visible. He fell dead on the spot.

"Humans have been the bane of the Daleks for centuries," Dalek-Amy continued as if nothing had happened. "Time and again, humans have spoiled plans for conquest throughout this galaxy and beyond. You can imagine my delight when, upon activation, I found myself to be in the distant past, a time when the entire human race was confined to a single planet, and moreover, divided into hostile factions!"

She smiled at the Doctor. "It's glorious! Humans of this era would make excellent Daleks."

The Doctor's face darkened in anger. "Don't you dare compare humans to your own kind!" he spat out.

"Why not?" Dalek-Amy said. "They are armed to the teeth with enough weapons to destroy themselves many times over. There can be no greater complement than to compare them to us!"

Rory struggled to maintain control. Tears were streaking his face. "Amy, please! You have to fight this! Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?"

She looked at Rory, head tilted as if curious. "Of course I know who you are," replied Dalek-Amy. "I made a complete copy of Amy's memories before destroying the higher-order brain functions."

Rory collapsed back. "Oh God! Oh God!"

She turned back to the Doctor. "With these memories, I have identified you as the ultimate enemy of the Daleks. My original plan had been to bide my time and plant time capsule messages informing Parliament about the danger you represent, but then you presented me with an opportunity."

"By 'opportunity,' I assume you mean this fixed point in time?" the Doctor said archly. He had noticed Vasili hand signaling to another crewmember, and wanted to keep Dalek-Amy's attention focused on himself.

"A gold star for the bright lad!" Dalek-Amy said, sounding momentarily like her old self. She glanced over at Rory, and then turned her attention back to the Doctor. "Do you know why the Doctor calls this a fixed point in time, Rory? It's not 'fixed' because change is impossible; it's fixed because the Time Lords were afraid of them. A more accurate term would be an inflection point, where a tiny alteration can be magnified into a vast change in outcome. It is the ultimate power." She gave the Doctor a pitying gaze. "Look where Time Lords fear to tread, Doctor, and you will find Daleks."

At that moment, the Chief Starshina appeared in the doorway of the bridge, a service revolver in his hand. "Everybody down!" he shouted.

"No!" yelled the Doctor. It was too late. The Chief Starshina took aim at Dalek-Amy and opened fire. The Chief couldn't believe what he was seeing; the woman simply stood and stared at him as he shot her. An instant later, he was enveloped in light.

"You leave these people out of it!" the Doctor said angrily. "This fight is between the two of us."

"That is where you're wrong," replied Dalek-Amy. "This fight is all about these people, or more precisely, the human race, and by extension the fate of the galaxy. Did you know this vessel, _K-19_, is not the only fixed point present?"

"The readings were a bit jumbled," admitted the Doctor. "But if Daleks are meddling with fixed points, you are bigger fools than I ever imagined. The Time Lords had far more experience with this sort of thing than the Daleks ever will. There's a reason for the restriction."

Dalek-Amy shook her head. "How typically arrogant and hypocritical. You don't even understand this moment. There is a fixed point within a fixed point. The larger, more obvious fixed point is not terribly important in itself, but it hides a deeper fixed point; a point so powerful you might call it a supernova of fixed points. It took a Dalek to discover it and exploit it."

The Doctor crossed his arms. "You're starting to remind me of Davros. He liked to lecture too. Please, continue," he said, voice dripping with scorn.

"A complement," replied Dalek-Amy. "It's good to see you finally acknowledge the superiority of the Daleks before you die. Humans have an expression: know your enemy. This is not something Daleks typically worry about, but sleeper agents do. I took full advantage, downloading and analyzing contemporary human history whilst living with Rory."

"I was wondering why you were surfing the web so much," muttered Rory, who looked dejected and miserable.

"I wasn't really complementing you, you know," said the Doctor.

"No matter." Dalek-Amy smiled again at the Doctor. "Let me tell you about power. _K-19_ does not need to be lost at sea. All I need to do is kill one man on this boat – a most important man – and the entire history of this galaxy changes. You saw the result; a dead Earth. That was only the beginning. For want of a man, humanity is lost. For want of humanity, a galaxy is lost. For want of a galaxy, the Daleks will reign supreme. That, Doctor, is _power_. Observe."

Dalek-Amy turned towards Captain Zateyev and Vasili Arkhipov. She raised her arm. "Exterminate!"

"NO!" shouted Vasili, who leaped sideways in front of Zateyev in a desperate attempt to protect his captain just as Dalek-Amy fired. The shot grazed Vasili on the shoulder. He collapsed, and Zateyev grabbed him as he fell.

Rory used the opportunity to leap up and tackle Dalek-Amy, knocking her to the deck and pinning her arms down. "Doctor! A little help here!"

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and made a couple of passes. "There. I've severed the Dalek muscle control interface. That should keep her paralyzed until she routes around the damage – a few minutes perhaps."

He went over to Zateyev and Vasili. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he leaned over to examine Vasili's shoulder.

"It hurts like hell," responded Vasili, "but I think it's actually starting to feel better already." He tried moving his arm around.

"You were lucky," the Doctor said. "That shot mostly missed you, and what didn't miss only charred your uniform. The impact was more like a stun shot really. Very lucky indeed."

"Captain! How about you? Are you all right?" Vasili asked, anxious.

"Yes, I'm fine," replied Zateyev. "Besides, she wasn't aiming at me; she was aiming at you, Vasili Arkhipov."

"At me?" replied Vasili in wonder. "What on Earth for?"

The Doctor stood up and straightened his bowtie. "For something you haven't done yet of course! Do try to keep up."

"Doc. Torrr…. Doc. Torrr…."

Rory looked up. "Doctor! I think Amy is trying to say something!" He had Dalek-Amy's head and shoulders cradled in his lap.

The Doctor walked over. "What do you want?" he said in a hostile tone. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at Dalek-Amy.

"Doctor, please!" Rory begged. "This is Amy we're talking about."

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry Rory – she's gone. The best thing we can do for now is get her off this boat."

"Fire her out a torpedo tube," demanded Captain Zateyev. "We will bury her at sea."

"Too risky," replied the Doctor. "Dalek sleeper agents continue to function as corpses."

"I am not giving up on Amy! You hear me Doctor?" Rory said through his tears. "I am NOT giving up!"

Dalek-Amy managed a half smile. "Doc… Torrr…. Did… you… think… this is… the… only… ship… I sabotaged?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "NO! Rory! Come on!" Without waiting, the Doctor took off running.

Rory wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Can someone help me carry her?" he called out.

"I can help." It was Vasili Arkhipov. Together they picked up Amy and carried her out of the bridge. "Are we going to that vanishing cabin of yours?" Vasili asked.

"Yes," replied Rory. "I really don't know what else we can do."

"Hmm," said Vasili. "I have decided you can't be with the KGB, whatever your papers say."

"No, we're not," admitted Rory. They carefully eased Amy through the connecting hatch into the officer's compartment.

"I have concluded you must be with the Moscow Circus," said Vasili as they arrived at the TARDIS door. "Because only a clown act could fit inside that tiny cabin!"

Rory looked at Vasili with a small smile. "It's a bit roomier than that." The Doctor had not fully closed the TARDIS door. Rory used his foot to pull the door open, and together they carried Amy inside.

"Oh my…" was all Vasili could manage. They were inside a very large open space. His initial impression was that of a mad man's grotto constructed out of glass and steel. "This… this…."

"Yeah, it's bigger on the inside," finished Rory. They carefully laid Amy down on the floor.

As Rory straightened up, he became aware something was wrong. The normal TARDIS lighting was decidedly red, and there was a deep resonant bell. "Bong… bong… bong…."

"Is that a church bell?" asked Vasili, puzzled.

"It's the cloister bell!" shouted the Doctor. "She's done something to the TARDIS!"


	7. A Most Important Man

Chapter 7 – A Most Important Man

The Doctor quickly circled the console, trying different levers and switches. "The controls are not responding…" He pulled the monitor to him. "…And there is an energy buildup. If this continues, it will trigger a discharge to prevent permanent damage to the TARDIS."

"Do you mean like a safety value venting an over-pressurized tank?" Vasili asked as he turned in place looking around the TARDIS.

"A good analogy!" replied the Doctor as he continued testing different controls on the console without success. "Except the TARDIS will release a burst of energy."

Rory frowned. He had sat down beside Amy and held her hand, hoping some part of her would remember who she was and fight against the Dalek influence. For the moment Amy was simply lying there, staring straight up at the ceiling, making no attempt to communicate. He reached out and experimentally wiggled the blue glowing Dalek eyestalk. That simply caused her unresisting head to turn back and forth. It had a solid feel. He tried pulling on it, and Amy's head lifted off the floor. That, more than anything else, drove home to Rory the eyestalk was real. It was embedded in her head, and that meant a large part of her frontal lobe had been sacrificed to make room for the damned thing. Who knew how extensive the damage was to Amy?

With considerable effort, Rory clamped down on his emotions, and focused on the Doctor's last comment. "A burst of energy; is that bad?" he asked.

"Not bad for the TARDIS," replied the Doctor. "But it would be bad for anything in range of the discharge."

Vasili stopped looking around and turned to the Doctor. "Do you mean _K-19_?"

"_K-19_, the Atlantic ocean, Earth…." The Doctor paused for a moment, doing a quick calculation in his head. "Actually, it would be bad for most of the inner planets of the Solar System."

Rory glanced up, a look of alarm on his face. "Okay, so it's bad," he replied. "What can we do to stop it?"

The Doctor threw up his arms in frustration. "At the very least, we need to get these controls unlocked. Then I can fly the TARDIS to a point between star systems where an energy burst won't harm anyone."

"Right," said Vasili. "I think I understood this could be a time machine – not that I believe it yet – but I have read H. G. Wells. Now you're saying this is a space ship?"

The Doctor grinned and pointed at Vasili. "You're catching on. It's both, actually, but what it is right now is a great big disaster if we can't stop the power buildup! Vasili, come here! I've got a job for you."

As Vasili came up to the console, the Doctor swung the monitor around. "Now you see that?" he said, pointing at the monitor. "That circle shows the power buildup. The more the power builds up, the bigger that red pie slice in the circle becomes. When the entire circle goes red, boom! An energy release. I need you to call out how much of the circle is red while we work. Do you understand?"

"Got it!" replied Vasili. "Right now it's a little more than 25% of the circle, right?"

"Good man!" The Doctor gave Vasili a pat on the shoulder, and got down on his knees, examining the underside of the console. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and began to loosen an access panel. "Rory, go swap thermocoupler cables two and seven under the floor. Do you remember how?"

"Yes Doctor." Rory reluctantly left Amy's side and went below the console under the glass floor. "Doctor!" he shouted out. "There's another one of those disk thingies under here attached to the core."

"Don't touch it!" the Doctor shouted back. "I'm coming down for a look." He quickly scooted out from under the panel, ran down the steps and under the glass floor.

"Careful now!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Until it's deactivated, it's not safe to touch. It could potentially electrocute you, although that would be crude for a Dalek device. It could vaporize you, or it could simply contaminate you with nanites, turning you into another Dalek agent."

"Got it. No touching the disk," said Rory as he watched the Doctor work.

The Doctor began to scan the disk. "No… no… no…" he muttered to himself as he tried different settings on his sonic screwdriver.

"Doctor?" It was Vasili hanging down from the glass floor above. "The circle is almost half full! What's the delay?"

"This disk can't be touched with bare hands!" the Doctor said as he worked. "Touching it even with gloves on will trigger a response. This one seems to be a bit more sophisticated than the disk I found in the reactor chamber."

"The circle is half full now!" called out Vasili. "I'll be back." He ran down the steps and out the TARDIS door.

"What?" said the Doctor, astonished. "Not a good time to leave. Rory, go watch the circle please."

"Yes Doctor." Rory climbed up to the console floor. "Doctor! The circle is about 65% full!"

"Now then," the Doctor said as he peered around the edge of the disk. "If I could just get this thing loose, that would buy some us time to figure out how to deactivate it." It resembled a miniature version of the classic Dalek flying saucer, which meant the edge of the disk was not flat against the console core. That made it very tempting to try pulling it loose – a deadly mistake. He placed his sonic screwdriver as close as he dared, aiming for the small gap between disk edge and panel.

"75%!" shouted Rory. "No pressure."

"Arrrrg!" shouted the Doctor. He swept his hair back in frustration. "It's deadlocked! The sonic screwdriver won't work! I'm going to try touching it with a thermocoupler cable. Zapping the disk with an energy discharge might do the trick."

"I hope so!" Rory shouted back. "Because the circle is a good 85% full!"

As the Doctor scooted around to disconnect a cable, Vasili came running in a crouch under the console floor. "My turn!" he shouted. Before the Doctor could stop him, Vasili stuck a large iron crowbar under the edge of the disk, and with a distinctive "pop!" the disk fell to the floor. He began beating the disk with the crowbar. Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Or, there's the direct approach," commented the Doctor as he watched, slightly amused.

"Hey Doctor!" shouted Rory. "Whatever you did worked! The red area is shrinking fast. 75%... 60%... 50%."

The cloister bell stopped ringing and the TARDIS lighting returned to normal.

Vasili finally slowed and stopped, sweat dripping from his brow, his arm aching. The disk was in several pieces. "Congratulations Vasili," said the Doctor as he held out his hand. "You just saved planet Earth."

Vasili looked relieved, with a big grin on his face. He shook hands with the Doctor. "Well, I'm glad that's over," he said.

"Look out!" shouted Rory. A bolt of light flashed past Vasili, barely missing him.

Dalek-Amy was on her feet. "You will be exterminated! Exterminate! Exterminate!" She fired again at Vasili, who ducked behind the center core for shelter.

The Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out and aimed at Dalek-Amy. "It's no good!" he shouted as another shot was fired. "She's reinforced her synapses! I can't stop her like I did before, but so far just she seems to be after Vasili."

"You think?" Vasili shouted as another bolt of light barely missed. He was trying very hard to keep the core column between himself and Dalek-Amy.

"Vasili! Get up here!" shouted Rory. He held out his hand. Vasili reached up, grasped Rory's hand, and with Rory's help climbed up to the console. As Rory and Vasili caught their breath, they saw Dalek-Amy peering up at them through the console floor, expressionless, the Dalek eyestalk in her forehead glowing a bright blue. She utterly ignored the Doctor as he stood beside her, scanning, until he attempted to physically restrain her. She backhanded the Doctor, knocking him to the floor.

Rory and Vasili quickly realized there was no safe place to stand, and they couldn't climb up on the console. Dalek-Amy aimed at Vasili through the console floor.

There was a flash of light.

Vasili was very much surprised to find he was still alive.

"Ha!" shouted the Doctor in triumph as he scrambled out from under the floor. "It might look like glass, but it's much better than that! You won't be able to shoot through it."

Dalek-Amy ignored the Doctor's taunt. She turned, walked out from under the floor, and began slowly walking up the front console steps. Rory and Vasili moved to keep the TARDIS console between Dalek-Amy and themselves. As Rory and Vasili tried to maneuver to the side stairs to escape, Dalek-Amy fired a shot to keep them pinned behind the console.

Rory slowly straightened up and raised his hands. "Amy?" he said. "You don't want to do this. I know you don't want to exterminate me."

Dalek-Amy looked at Rory without emotion. "Correct. I want to assimilate you, but you forget: assimilation can happen after death." Rory ducked as Dalek-Amy fired another shot, this one hitting the TARDIS console. Sparks flew, some spraying on Rory and Vasili. A small curl of smoke rose from the console.

Observing the results, Dalek-Amy began rapid-firing directly at the console in an attempt to drive out Rory and Vasili. A shower of sparks flew up from the console with loud pops. The cloister bell began to peel again.

"No!" shouted the Doctor. He ran to the steps, crowbar held high, ready to defend his TARDIS. Dalek-Amy turned to face this new threat and fired.

The Doctor stopped midway on the steps, surprised he wasn't dead. The bolt fired by Dalek-Amy had stopped in mid-air just beyond the weapon stalk. Dalek-Amy herself appeared to be frozen in place. A glow from the console enveloped her.

"Doctor? What's happening?" Rory asked as he and Vasili slowly stood up again.

"Don't move!" shouted the Doctor. "It's the TARDIS. It has Amy time-locked." A panel on the console slowly opened, admitting a bright light. "It's the heart of the TARDIS!" called out the Doctor. "Come on girl! You can do it!" he said with the beginning of a smile on his face.

The bolt fired by Dalek-Amy abruptly reversed, traveling back into the hand weapon stalk. "Yes!" said the Doctor, who leaped for joy and did an imaginary high-five in the air. "The TARDIS is rewinding Amy's personal timeline. That will undo any damage caused by the nanocloud!"

Rory stuck a questioning finger up in the air. "The TARDIS can do that?" he asked, his concern etched in his face.

"Oh yes!" exclaimed the Doctor. "The TARDIS has done it before, you know. She once did it to a nasty individual from the Slitheen crime family. Slitheens hail from a planet called Raxacoricofallapatorius. Anyway, this Slitheen tried to take over the TARDIS, and the old girl rewound her all the way back to an egg!"

Rory looked panic-stricken. "What? I don't want Amy rewound back to an egg! Or a baby, I suppose! How do I explain I'm married to a baby? Talk about robbing the cradle!"

At that moment, the TARDIS released Amy. She collapsed to the floor. "Amy!" Rory shouted. He ran around the console and fell to the floor beside her. Rory pulled Amy up and cradled her head in his lap. The Dalek eyestalk was gone. "Amy? Can you hear me?"

The Doctor scanned Amy with his sonic screwdriver and looked at the results. He breathed a sigh of relief. "This time, I can guarantee Amy is completely clean. No nanites in her anywhere."

Amy's eyes fluttered open. "Doctor?" she said, and began to look around. "Rory? What happened? Did I fall down or something?"

"Something like that," Rory quietly replied as he brushed her hair back.

Amy sat up and frowned. "What are we doing in the TARDIS?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" the Doctor asked.

Amy thought for a second. "You had dropped us back home after the visit to Mercy. That was, what? Three or four days ago?" She turned to Rory. "Oh! I forgot to tell you. The upstairs loo has been leaking. Do you think your Dad could fix it?"

Rory laughed, tears in his eyes. "Yes, but I'd like to give it a go first," he said, replaying in his mind this same conversation he had had with Amy three weeks ago. He leaned forward and gripped Amy in a bear hug.

"Oh!" said Amy, the wind slightly knocked out of her. "What brought this on?" She noticed a stranger in some sort of uniform looking at both her and Rory, a smile on his face. "Rory!" she hissed. "Someone is watching us!"

"Right!" said Rory. He released Amy and they both stood up. "Amy? I'd like you to meet Vasili Arkhipov. He's the executive officer of a Russian submarine in 1961."

Amy shook hands with Vasili. "Are you a new companion of the Doctor's?" she asked, wondering what was going on.

Vasili laughed. "Oh no, I have enough on my plate already without becoming involved in the Doctor's adventures." He looked to the Doctor. "I should go. My crew needs me."

The Doctor clapped Vasili on the shoulder, and together they walked down the steps to the TARDIS door. "It's more than just the crew who needs you, Vasili," he said. "Apparently, the whole world needs you as well!"

Vasili paused at the door and looked back at the Doctor. "Yes, but why?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled. "I expect when the moment comes, you will understand what you need to do."

Vasili hesitated. "I am curious about one thing. Have you ever met an English author by the name of H. G. Wells?"

"I have, yes," replied the Doctor, a bit surprised at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I find it interesting," said Vasili. "That you don't go by a name. In Wells' story _The Time Machine_, the main character is never identified by name either. He is simply known as 'the Time Traveler.' Coincidence?"

The Doctor's smile broadened. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything more about the reactor; I'm afraid the fix was temporary."

Vasili smiled at the Doctor's artful dodge. "That's all right," he replied. "You've given us a fighting chance." He gave the Doctor a salute and stepped out of the TARDIS.

The alarm klaxon was sounding. "Sir!" shouted an out of breath Lieutenant Korchilov as he ran up to Vasili. "The pressure in the starboard reactor has failed again!"

"How's the temperature?" Vasili asked.

"Rising, but at an expected rate. I estimate we have about three or four hours before the temperature is critical."

"So," said Vasili, thinking. "We need to find a way to get coolant circulating again."

Lieutenant Korchilov grinned and held up a set of plans. "I have an idea. We have over eight thousand liters of drinking water available. If we can route that to the reactor, we can keep it cool long enough for the SCRAM rods to do their job."

Vasili smiled. "Good work, Lieutenant! Take it to the captain. I'll be along shortly." As the Lieutenant ran forward, Vasili turned back to the TARDIS. He found himself looking at a bare wall with pipes. "Good luck to us all," he said to the wall, and went forward to the bridge.

* * *

The TARDIS completed its landing and quietly hummed. The Doctor walked around the console, tweaking settings here and there.

"Here we are," said the Doctor, "back safe and sound once again. Your house should be just across the street." He looked at Amy. "Now Amy, I'm afraid you've lost about three weeks of your memory, but I'm sure Rory will fill you in. On the plus side, you are also about three weeks younger than you were before."

"Hmm," said Amy. "I suppose there is that. Come on Rory! I want to go home." She ran down the steps to the TARDIS doors.

"Wait!" cried Rory, just as Amy opened the doors. He ran down the steps after her.

Amy turned back, curious. "Is something wrong?"

The TARDIS was sitting in a small park across the street from Amy and Rory's house. It was a clear day. Children could be heard playing nearby. A jogger ran past, oblivious, ear buds in, listening to her iPod. Rory heaved a sigh of relief. "No," he said. "Nothing is wrong." He gave Amy a hug.

"Come along Ponds!" said the Doctor as he pushed past. "I want to do a little research." Amy and Rory looked at each other, and went after the Doctor. They all entered the house together. The Doctor went down the hall to the living room where a small desk was set up in the corner with a laptop computer. He started busily typing away.

Amy, meanwhile, scooped up the day's mail from the floor. "Oh look!" she said. "Here's a flyer for a new restaurant. American style barbecue. What do you think?"

Rory shuddered. "How about Indian takeaway instead?"

"Ah ha!" proclaimed the Doctor. "Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov. It's all right here. He served on board _K-19_, and witnessed firsthand the deaths of several crewmembers from radiation poisoning, including, I'm afraid, Lieutenant Boris Korchilov, the reactor officer. Vasili received a rather large dose of radiation himself."

The Doctor trailed off as he read ahead. "Ah, now this is interesting indeed. After _K-19_, Vasili was assigned to another sub called _B-59_, which was equipped with a nuclear torpedo. He was commander of a four-sub fleet, which sailed to Cuba in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. _B-59_ was detected by American forces. On 27 October 1962, they attempted to force _B-59_ to surface by dropping 'practice' depth charges."

He looked at Amy and Rory. "Problem is, inside a submarine, you can't tell the difference between a practice depth charge and a real one. The captain thought they were being attacked. Both he and the political officer agreed to launch the nuclear torpedo, but they also needed the agreement of the fleet commander, Vasili Arkhipov. Vasili vetoed the launch, and they surfaced instead. Vasili quite literally saved the world from a nuclear Armageddon that day. A most important man indeed."

"Wow," said Amy. "It's amazing how world events can hinge on the actions of a single person."

The Doctor stood and walked over to the Ponds. He put his arms around them both. "Not just the world you know. As humans begin to explore the galaxy, they will encounter and battle the Daleks. The actions of all those people will keep the Daleks from overrunning the galaxy; people who would not exist were it not for Vasili." The Doctor released the Ponds. "That butterfly effect is why we steer clear of fixed points in time."

"Well," said Rory. "I'm just glad to be here." He grabbed Amy and gave her a big kiss.

Amy smiled. "I could do with another kiss," she said. Her smile grew bigger. "For medicinal purposes only, you understand."

Rory grinned back. "I think I can help there," he replied as he gathered Amy in his arms. "I am a qualified nurse, you know." The next kiss was unhurried and passionate.

"Right!" the Doctor said awkwardly. To his horror, Amy and Rory began to tug at each other's clothes. He pointed to the front door. "I'll just let myself out then, shall I?" He turned and fled.

Amy and Rory stopped kissing to watch the front door as the Doctor closed it behind him.

Amy smiled. "Works every time," she said, and looked up at Rory while holding him tight, a gleam in her eye. "Shall we go upstairs?"

"Race you to the top!" Giggling, they made a mad dash up the stairs.

* * *

Afterword

Few people today realize just how close the world came to ending in October 1962. I had some inkling, but didn't realize how bad things actually were until I ran across an article about the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This is a work of fiction, and the words and actions of all characters are fiction. However, several characters are drawn from actual historical figures.

Captain Second Rank Nikolai Zateyev – The real captain of _K-19_. Some accounts refer to his rank as Captain First Rank, but as far as I could determine, his rank at the time of the reactor accident on 4 July 1961 was Second Rank. Doctors told Zateyev he received three times the lethal dose of radiation, but he managed to survive due to bone marrow treatments. Concerning the _K-19_ accident, Zateyev was quoted as saying this about the severely exposed crewmembers.

_"Right on the spot their appearances began changing. Skin not protected by clothing began to redden, face and hands began to swell. Dots of blood began to appear on their foreheads, under their hair. Within two hours we couldn't recognize them. People died fully conscious, in terrible pain. They couldn't speak, but they could whisper. They begged us to kill them."_

Lieutenant Boris Korchilov – According to one account, the real Boris Korchilov was indeed handsome with blue eyes and popular with the ladies. He received an extremely high dose of radiation while repairing the starboard reactor. He was the first crewman to die. Korchilov was so radioactive everything he came into contact with had to be destroyed.

Captain Third Rank Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, Executive Officer – The real Vasili Arkhipov was the Executive Officer of _K-19_, although the rank I gave him in this story is a bit of guesswork. Arkhipov was exposed to radiation himself, as well as having witnessed the effects of severe radiation exposure as described by Captain Zateyev.

By October of 1962, Arkhipov's rank was Captain Second Rank, and he was assigned as fleet commander of four diesel submarines, each equipped with a nuclear torpedo, whose orders were to go to Cuba. Unlike the practice drill in this story, the sub captains were pre-authorized to use nuclear weapons without confirmation from Moscow as long as three people were in agreement: the captain, the political officer, and Vasili Arkhipov. I have no doubt Vasili's experience on _K-19_ factored in his decision to refuse authorization in the use of a nuclear torpedo on 27 October 1962.

Vasili Arkhipov is considered a hero today, but that was not the case in 1962. When _B-59_ and the other submarines returned to port, an admiral told them they would have been better off lost at sea than to return home. In spite of that setback, Vasili Arkhipov retired in the mid 1980's at the rank of Vice Admiral.

For more information about the real Vasili Arkhipov, check out the PBS documentary called, "The Man Who Saved the World".

Lyndon Johnson was, of course, the Vice President of the United States in 1961. On the LBJ Ranch, there was an original barn not far from the main house called the Martin barn. Lady Bird Johnson won the battle of the barns. In 1966, the old Martin barn was torn down, and a new Show Barn was built at the north end of the airstrip, well away from the main house.

The LBJ Ranch is now the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. The Park service holds a barbecue every year in May. Both Lyndon Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson are buried in a family plot in the park.

Gus Grissom and Gordon Cooper were both Mercury Seven astronauts. I have no idea what they really did on the 4th of July 1961, but later that same month, Gus Grissom became the second American to go into space in a Redstone rocket on 21 July 1961. Like Alan Shepard's flight, it too was sub-orbital. Grissom finally got to orbit the Earth on the Gemini 3 mission on 23 March 1965. He was tragically killed in the Apollo I fire on 27 January 1967.

Gordon Cooper flew the last Mercury mission on 15 May 1963, orbiting the Earth 22 times, logging more time in space than all the previous Mercury astronauts combined. He later flew the Gemini 5 mission as command pilot. The Gemini 5 flight lasted 8 days, proving people could survive in space for the time needed by the Apollo missions. He retired from NASA in 1970.


End file.
